Tough Breaks

The St. Regis Lady Tigers had a full schedule of volleyball last week. They started play on Tuesday with a match against St. Regis and then traveled to Charlo on Thursday. Finally, they finished out the week in Arlee with tournament play.

Last week, Coach Cindy Feasel commented that matches for the team can be up and down and that proved to be true again. The girls had a good showing against county rival Superior on Tuesday night and nearly won the game during Superior’s homecoming week. But the Bobcats prevailed. The ladies from St. Regis lost in three straight games, 20-25, 17-25 and 23-25.

They might have lost, but the St. Regis Tigers proved to be a threat. In all three games, they were only behind by a few points most of the time and managed to tie up the scores. In the first game, the Lady Tigers overtook the Superior girls by a few points, but when they lost their serve, they ended up losing the game.

Feasel said that she felt the team held their own against Superior, noting that the Lady Bobcats were “pretty athletic.”

During the match against Superior, Lisa Stevens was a huge factor at the net for the Lady Tigers. She had all four of the team’s blocks and also downed five kills against the Lady Bobcats. Stevens is a senior who played a little bit of volleyball last year, but hasn’t played all four years for the team. Still, Feasel said that Stevens has just been awesome.

“She’s been awesome. I wish she’s played all four years, but she’s really coming along,” Feasel said.

Juliana Spencer and Leandra Baldwin tied for six digs apiece during the match and Spencer also set seven of the team’s nine assists. Jocelyn Dockter scored three aces against the Lady Bobcats.

After a narrowly missed victory in Superior, the girls were at Charlo on Thursday. The Lady Tigers ended up losing. They took defeat in the first three games of the match, 18-25, 2-25 and 4-25, staying way down in the single digits. Charlo scored 28 aces against the girls during the match, while St. Regis only grabbed a total of ten digs during the match.

“It was horrible,” Feasel said. “I don’t know what happened. It was odd. It’s like everybody forgot everything. We talked a bit after and they were frustrated, but you can’t get emotionally down and take yourself out of the game. Again, we were learning things.”

Stevens had three blocks and two kills. Rolisha Rhoades also had three blocks for St. Regis and Sierra Slavin had two kills against Charlo. Spencer set five assists and served up two aces.

In Arlee, St. Regis played three matches winning one against county rival Alberton. Feasel said that the girls still seem weak on floor transitions and cover.

“Transitions and floor cover have been killing us,” Feasel said.

Feasel said that although the week was up and down again, she said that the team is still setting its sights on districts.

“Hopefully, we’ll be sharp,” Feasel said.

The girls have a game against Two Eagle this week, a team they beat a couple weeks ago.