St. Regis Lady Tigers beat Arlee

ST REGIS – Playing on a new court surface that literally reflects everything new about the St. Regis gym, the Lady Tigers handed the Arlee Warriors their first loss of the season last week.

It may have taken them four games but the team from St. Regis was able to edge out a win after a marathon fourth set that went into extra points. St. Regis started off strong but had to fend off a driving Arlee team to maintain their lead.

St. Regis took the first set 25-18 and the second 25-20. The team was up in the third but Arlee, determined to get back into the match, whittled away at the Lady Tiger’s lead, eventually winning the set 27-25.

It took extra points to finish off the Warriors but they eventually were able to get a victory with the score in the last game 31-29.

Gabby Moeller of St. Regis had 23 of the team’s 43 kills. She added four blocks and four aces to the team’s offense. Brittany Nelson added four aces of her own for the Tigers. Pilar Field had 21 assists.

Head coach Jen Pruitt said, in volleyball action earlier in the week against Charlo, the team wasn’t as successful as they were against Arlee. The Lady Tigers lost in straight sets against Charlo but Pruitt said she was encouraged overall by what she saw on the court.

“There was good coverage,” Pruitt said. “They were picking up the ball well. We need to work on controlling the ball and keeping it off the net. Gabby (Moeller) had a lot of kills for us and Pilar (Field) and Ashley Cheesman were doing well at getting her the ball. Arlee played a good game but we were able to pick them and it was a good match all around.”

Pruitt said she will have her girls working on making sure the ball goes where they want it to this week. She said controlling the tempo of the match was critical to making sure the game goes how they want it.

“We will be working on fundamentals,” Pruitt said. “We need to work on getting the ball to our target and getting our hitters set up. We need to have this down before we get to districts which is in a month and a half.”

St. Regis will face off against cross county rival Superior at home on Sept. 18 and then again at home later in the week on Saturday versus Two Eagle River.