Volleyball Roundup
The St. Regis Lady Tigers were treated to a celebration dinner for 14C Districts. They did not make it to Divisionals after being beaten by Noxon. (Photo courtesy Dawn Palmer)
Mountain Cat Kathryn Parkin jumps for a return during a district game against Darby at Valley Christian School in Missoula on Friday. Clark Fork won the game 25-21, 27-25, 18-25, 26-24. (Kathleen Woodford/Mineral Independent)
The Clark Fork Lady Mountain Cats won second place in 13C Districts and will play Arlee on Thursday for Divisionals in Churchill. (Photo courtesy of Kristy Mask)
In District 14C, Arlee took home the conference title after defeating Plains in the championship game on Friday. The Scarlets beat Charlo in the championship semifinals and the Vikings placed third. During play Noxon beat St. Regis 25-20; 21-25; 25-21; 25-20. St. Regis also fell to Arlee on Thursday, 25-17; 25-16; 25-11. Their stats were not available by press time.
In a Facebook post, Head Coach Jennifer Pruitt said, “I’m very proud of these girls, if we would have had this fight a month ago and built on it we would have had a different outcome this weekend.”
She then thanked her girls for finishing strong in their tournament play.
Clark Fork Mountain Cats fall to second place, but move on to Divisionals
The Clark Fork Lady Mountain Cats entered the 13C District tournament in first place but ended taking second place after a heartbreaking fall to Seeley-Swan in the championship game on Saturday at Valley Christian. In five close sets the two teams fought it out on the court where Seeley won the first game 25-22. The Cats came back in set two and won 25-11, and then Seeley won by 4 points 25-21. In the fourth set the Cats won by 2 with a hard battle 29-27. In the end, Seeley pulled ahead and put 3 extra points on the board for a win of 15-12 for the championship.
Madison Mask pulled out top points in the game making 36 of the team’s 37 blocks along with 18 out of 57 digs and 4 of the team’s 14 aces. Margaret Parkin also had 4 aces and so did Kenzie Mueller who also got 15 of the teams 45 kills. Montanna Baughman had 2.5 out of 4 team blocks.
During the climb to the championship game on Friday the Cats beat out the Darby Tigers 25-21, 27-25, 18-25, 26-24 with Mueller grabbing 10 out of 30 kills and 4 of the team’s 12 aces. Mask had 25 out of 28 assists and 15 of 60 digs. Baughman had 3 out of 4 team blocks.
On Saturday morning the Cats faced Seeley once again with a loss of 25-20; 25-17; 25-14. Mueller had 8 of 22 kills. While Mask had 15 of 17 assists. Baughman managed 2 of 3 team blocks and led in digs with 11 out of 43 and landed 2 out of 3 aces.
The Cats then faced Darby again in game 3 with a sweeping defeat with 25-23; 25-15; 25-18. Baughman led in kills with 6 of 24 as well as taking 15 of the team’s 57 digs. Mask had 19 of 20 assists and 3 out of 6 aces. Mueller had 3.5 out of 6 team blocks.
“We stumbled a little bit at Districts but it’s not the end of our journey,” said Head Coach, Toni Labbe. “We will adjust a few things but mainly we are excited to take advantage of the next opportunity. I’m proud of this group of girls and what they have achieved so far.”
Divisionals will be held Nov. 2-4 at Manhattan Christian, Churchill where the Cats square off against Arlee on Thursday.