Frosh top Whitefish in finale

By JOE SOVA / Hungry Horse News

Columbia Falls' freshman volleyball team posted a winning record this season, but second-year coach Heather Gilchrist was more concerned about skill development and improvement. The quote of the year for the Wildkats, from Helen Keller, was, "Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much."

"They really bought into that fact," Gilchrist said.

During the 14-match season, the Wildkat freshmen had eight wins and six losses.

The season ended on high note, as the Kats were rewarded for their hard work with a win over rival Whitefish in four games. Scores were 25-10, 21-25, 15-13, 15-6.

"They were so excited about the entire evening," Gilchrist said. "The girls all played so well. It had a lot of do with our serving. Our serving was incredible in that fourth game."

She wanted the team to serve over 88 percent in the finale, and the mark was 89.1 percent. The goal was to commit fewer than 10 service errors; they had just seven against Whitefish.

"We wanted to limit our errors on our attack. We had only six. That's pretty incredible for them," Gilchrist said.

She said the Kats also had more blocks and touches from the front row; team-wise, they had five blocks.

"We bypassed every goal we set," Gilchrist said. "They really stepped it up all around."

The coach indicated that the Kats played sporadically during the season, but made lots of progress from beginning to end.

"This is the most athletic group of girls I've ever coached," Gilchrist said, complimenting their abilities and skills. "That's pretty exciting. We had a great group of freshman girls."

According to Gilchrist, Jordan Lefebvre is one of many unselfish players on the squad. Gabrielle Stenger was "a force at the net." Jaylynn Cantu was the team's libero, or defensive specialist. Jessie Gist has "pure athletic ability at the net."

With only one setter available for the last match, Katrina Millward ran the team's 5-1 offense very well.

"She was able to step up and play all the way around," Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist's second year as coach of the team was rewarding.

"I was a lot more comfortable with the game of volleyball and teaching it," she said. "I challenged myself a little more this year. I had a lot of fun doing it."