Lady Hawks soar to divisionals
In an improbable year, with only two seniors, three sophomores and a freshman comprising the varsity squad, the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks have silenced their doubters by advancing to the divisional round of the post-season.
Senior libero Emily Wadsworth is the only member of the Lady Hawks roster who saw significant playing time on varisty prior to this season, as Makayla Becker missed last year’s campaign with a knee injury.
“I took some chances,” head coach Sandra Kazmierczak said of building her inexperienced roster which includes an exchange student who had never played volleyball prior to this season, “But boy oh boy it just turned out to be a good season. I’m pretty happy for the girls. They’ve had the desire to become the team that they wanted to be.”
Last weekend while hosting the District 7-B tournament the Lady Hawks fell to Troy, 3-1, outlasted Bigfork, 3-2, then defeated Troy, 3-2, before falling to Eureka, 3-1, and earning the third seed to the divisional tournament next weekend.
“I was very proud of them because from day one I knew that these kids could put it together, it was just going to take time,” Kazmierczak said. “In the tournament here they came away with third place. It was pretty neat.”
On Friday, against a team they had lost to just eight days prior, the Lady Hawks again fell victim to the Trojans, 22-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-16.
“They’re a great passing team,” Kazmierczak said. “We were hitting pretty good against them, but they were digging everything so eventually I think we got a little tired.”
Ironically, the home-court almost seemed to be a disadvantage for the young Lady Hawks who seemed timid at times versus Troy.
“They were nervous,” Kazmierczak said. “They had a lot of friends from school, but it was just such a good experience for them to have the tournament at home and it turned out well.”
Becker led Thompson Falls with 19 kills. Wadsworth had 20 digs, Kelsey Fitchett five blocks, and Allison Vaught a staggering 40 assists in the loss.
For the Trojans, Jackie Pepiot had 12 kills, Jordan Williams posted 19 digs, and Alyssa Olds 36 assists.
In the loser out game verus Bigfork, however, with their backs against the wall, the Lady Hawks had to dig deep in order to upend the Vals in a fifth and decisive set, 25-21, 26-24, 9-25, 22-25, 15-6.
With the score tied at 24-all in the second set, and the outcome of a season hanging in the balance Kazmierczak didn’t bark about to her team about strategy or effort, she just encouraged them to have fun.
“I felt like they were kind of being too tense, too afraid to make an error, too afraid to lose the game,” she said. “We can’t do anything differently at that point. Just keep it simple, and they did a good job.”
Hope Reid led the Lady Hawk offense with 26 kills, Fitchett added 16 and Becker was also in douible digits with 10. The trio also had 12, 11 ad 19 digs respectively. Wadsworth add 19 digs of her own in the win.
Mallery Knoll led Bigfork with 14 kills and 44 digs. Hannah Barret had 21 assists and Taylor Peck added 4 aces in the loss.
In their third match-up versus Troy in just over a week the Lady Hawks reversed their fortune and kept their season alive with a 25-27, 25-19, 25-11, 20-25, 15-7 win.
“We lost the night before to Troy, and they just came out ready,” Kazmierczak said. “The kids really wanted to step it up the next day.”
“We said, ‘oh no, can Troy beat us three times?’ Because we know how tough that is,” she said.
For Thompson Falls Becker had 19 kills and 12 digs, Reid hit for 14 kills, and Fitchet for 11. Wadsworth piled on 20 digs freshman Erica Sorlie13.
Alyssa Olds had 39 assists and four aces for Troy. Megan Cummings had 14 assists in the Trojan loss.
In their final district match on Saturday, Thompson Falls was up-ended by Eureka, 24-26, 25-21, 25-15, 25-19.
Leading the Lady Hawks offense was Becker with 16 kills. Reid and Fitchett had four blocks each, and Wadsworth had 11 digs. Vaught set the offense with 18 assists in the loss.
Selene Elster led the attack at the net and Alyssa White from the serving line as the Lions advanced to the title game. Elster had 14 kills and White tallied six of Eureka’s 20 aces. White also set 34 assists
Thompson Falls will participate in the Division Tournament next Thursday through Saturday in Superior. Participating in the eight team field, of which two teams will advance to state will be Mission, Eureka, Thompson Falls, Troy, Florence, Loyola, Superior and Valley Christian.
In their first match, the Lady Hawks will face the no. two seed Loyola on Thursday at 2 PM.
Loyola defeated Thompson Falls 3-0 in their only match this year.
“They’re quick, they’re talented, and they’ve been at state almost ever year so they’re experienced,” Kazmierczak said. “We just need to come out and play like we did last week and see how far that can take us.”