Lady Hawks split road matches

The Thompson Falls Lady Hawks volleyball team picked up a split this past weekend in a pair of road games, beating Eureka on the Lady Lions home court, then falling to Bonner’s Ferry, also on the road, Saturday night.

The Lady Hawks went into their game with Eureka looking to rebound from a tough conference last week to Anaconda, their first setback of the year. They apparently took it out on Eureka, sweeping the Lady Lions 3-0 to get back on the winning track and up their overall season record to 4-1.

Against host Eureka, the Lady Hawks fought off a hard-charging group of Lady Lions, hanging on to win the first set 25-19 for a 1-0 match lead.

It would not get any easier the rest of the way for T Falls, but the results were the same.

The visitors took set two 25-20, then closed out the sweep of conference foe Eureka with a 25-21 matching-clinching win.

Along the way, the Lady Hawks got double-figure stats from several key players, led by the 16 assists accumulated by Ellie Baxter. They also got 11 digs from Cheyla Irvine, and 14 kills from senior standout Avery Burgess.

Two days later the Lady Hawks ventured into the far reaches of the Idaho Panhandle to face Bonner’s Ferry.

The hosts were laying in waiting.

Bonner’s Ferry raced off to an early lead in the opening set, which they won 25-15 to claim a 1-0 match lead. The host team followed that win up with a hard-fought, back-and-forth affair in set two, which they won by a 25-23 count. Bonner’s Ferry put the match away with a 25-19 set three win and the 3-0 sweep.

The loss was just the second of the year for Thompson Falls, which is now 4-2.

Burgess had nine kills and Irvine racked up 10 assists to pace the Lady Hawks.

T Falls travels to Arlee tonight (Tuesday) for a conference game with the Scarletts, then comes home Thursday evening for a Homecoming match against Mission in what should be a showdown between conference co-leaders.