Lady Tigers win one, lose two

The St. Regis Lady Tigers had three games of volleyball last week, facing Noxon, Arlee and Seeley.

At Noxon, the girls lost the first set, but came back to win the next three for a victory in the match. Coach Cindy Feasel felt the match was an improvement over last week’s game play.

“They played pretty good when we were up there,” Feasel said. “They did improve. They were picking things up and the cover on the floor was good.”

The girls struggled Friday night against Arlee at home. Arlee took the lead from the start and the Lady Tigers were down for the first half of the game. Arlee climbed to 10 points before the home team finally started to catch up. Climbing on the scoreboard was no easy task for the girls, but coming from behind has been something they’ve been doing all season. With Leandra Baldwin serving, the Tigers came one point within reach of taking over the game, 12-13. Two kills by Lisa Stevens put the girls ahead, 14-13. However, the Lady Tigers wouldn’t hold on to the lead for long.

Arlee took the lead and a series of dropped balls and bad passes would plague the Lady Tigers. St. Regis lost the first game, 17-25.

The second game was similar to the first and the Lady Tigers spent the game behind their opponent, never able to catch up or take the lead. They lost 16-25 and then handed over the third, losing the match in three games.

The girls seemed to fluctuate a lot in their play against Arlee. One moment things would come together for them and the next they were watching balls fall straight to the floor.

“That’s how awful it  can be for us,” Feasel said. “One moment we look like we could really do something, and the next, were to the point of ‘are you kidding me?’ I think part of it is that it’s such an emotional game.”

Feasel said the team really needs to focus on overcoming the emotional aspects of the game with a stronger mentality to be able to push through when they are down.

“We can play with anybody, but sometimes we look like the worst team in the league,” Feasel said. “We just need to become mentally stronger. We need to concentrate on floor transition and get more power on the hips. And we will. We’ll get there. I still believe we can be ready for districts.”

Feasel said the match against Seeley was a pretty good match, but the same thing happened with them as it did with Arlee.

“We had some good moments,” Feasel said. “But once again, the better team came out on top. Our serving was pretty poor. Seeley’s a better serving team than what we’ve played before.”

Despite the loss, Feasel said Lisa Stevens and Jocelyn Dockter had their best game this season so far. This week, the girls played Superior on Tuesday and will face Charlo on Thursday.

“We have Superior on Tuesday and so that will be a big rivalry game,” Feasel said. “I hope we show up and are ready to play.”

After spending a few weeks to trying to get a junior-varsity team together, the team will be varsity only due to eligibility requirements.

“It’s unfortunate,” Feasel said. “[The younger players] will never see much playing time unless someone gets hurt.”