Lady Hawks volleyball squad enjoys strong week

Two matches this past week for the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks, and two more wins, both involving 3-0 sweeps.

The TFalls ladies began their week last Tuesday with an impressive home showing against traditional power Arlee, coming away with the first 3-0 set sweep of the week.

With Covid concerns beginning to disrupt sports schedules throughout the region, Thompson Falls remained one of the few schools to keep things going.

They jumped to an early lead against the outgunned Scarlets from Arlee and pulled away for a comfortable 25-8 set one win and a 1-0 lead in the match.

Senior standout Scarlett Scwindt led the way, as the Lady Hawks had little trouble in the second set as well, controlling the set from start to finish on their way to a 25-11 win and a 2-0 match advantage.

Arlee put up a minor fight in the third and what would be the final set of the evening but the Lady Hawks had enough to put them away 25-14 and secure the 3-0 sweep.

Schwindt led all scorers with seven kills to go with her five digs on the night. Fellow senior Elli Pardee added 11 assists to the TFalls cause, while junior Cheyla Irvine had a match-best 8 service aces.

Two nights later Thompson Falls took to the road for a match against rival Mission and although the first part of the encounter was somewhat different than Tuesday, the outcome was the same.

Mission battled the visitors back and forth in the opening set, which featured several lead changes. Thompson Falls was finally able to pull away from the Lady Bulldogs in the late going of set number one on their way to a hard-fought 25-17 set win and a 1-0 match lead.

With the Lady Hawks volleyball machine rolling the rest of the way, the second and third sets were much easier wins than was the first set.

The Lady Hawks jumped to early leads in both of what would be the final two sets and never looked back, winning set number two 25-11 and taking the third game 25-9 to secure their second 3-0 sweep of the week.

Schwindt once again had a good night, recording four service aces, seven kills and eight assists. Pardee added five digs while Abbi Lane chipped in six assists to go with a pair of blocked shots.

The pair of wins boosted Thompson Falls to 5-1 as the teams head into mid-season play. Mission fell to 1-4.

The Lady Hawks next action is a home game tonight (Tuesday) against Troy. They then take to the road Saturday for an encounter with Bigfork in a key conference match.