Lady Dogs split with Wildkats, Maidens
Mikenna Ells and Jadi Walburn rise for a block last Thursday against Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Kaiah Moore and her teammates celebrate a point against Columbia Falls last week. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
Jasmine Matern dives for the bump against Columbia Falls. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
After a rough first set, the Lady Dogs put up a fight against the Columbia Falls Wildkats last week.
With all the momentum behind the Kats, Whitefish clawed back from an 18-13 deficit midway through the set, eventually bringing the score to a 20-20 tie with an excited crowd behind them.
This run by the Lady Dogs came after starting the first set 16-0.
However, Columbia Falls didn’t waver, winning the next five points to take the second set of the night.
The Wildkats eventually came through in the third set, winning the match 25-5, 25-20, 25-11.
Columbia Falls had 38 kills to Whitefish’s 15 and 27 assists to the Lady Dogs’ 14. Luci Ridgeway led the team with 6 kills, and Mikenna Ells added 4. Kaiah Moore led the team in digs with 11 and Jenny Patten had 9 assists.
Head coach Addy Connelly said she felt her team was already mentally defeated before they stepped on the court.
“We just came out beat already. Our mindset was that they were the stronger team,” she said. “We struggled on a mental way. They ran a faster game and we weren’t ready for it. Not a good showing.”
She noted the team addressed most of their biggest problems in the second set, cleaning up their serving and passing, but fell back into their first-set mistakes in the final set.
On Thursday the team traveled to Ronan for a bounceback, three-set win over the Maidens.
Connelly said it was a far better outing for her girls.
“We played more steady volleyball. Our serving was a lot better. It was more consistent volleyball,” she said.
This week the team has another look at Ronan for homecoming. The match starts around 7 p.m. on Thursday.
Then on Saturday they’ll host Browning at 1 p.m.
Connelly said she’s looking to improve fundamentals while having an enjoyable week.
“It’s homecoming, so there’s a lot of emotions. I hope we stay focused at the task at hand,” she said. “We’re going to work on fundamentals, these are good opportunities for us to clean up our game and be more consistent and try to hone in and make the difference in the score as big as possible.”
Kills — Columbia Falls 38 (Mady Hoerner 13) Whitefish 15 (Luci Ridgeway 6, Mikenna Ells 4); Digs — Columbia Falls 36 (Hoerner 11, Angellica Street 10), Whitefish 27 (Kaiah Moore 11, Jasmine Matern 9); Blocks — Columbia Falls 2 (Kiera Brown 2), Whitefish 3 (Jadi Walburn 2, Ridgeway 1); Assists — Columbia Falls 27 (Hannah Schweikert 26), Whitefish 14 (Jenny Patten 9, Ells 4); Aces — Columbia Falls 5 (Lauren Faulkner 2, Schweikert 2), Whitefish 3 (Moore 1, Ridgeway 1, Ells 1).