Lady Hawks ready to soar as season takes off

After a bit of a bump in the volleyball road, the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks had a week that showed the young team is getting ready to take flight.

Last week they dropped a pair of matches to Florence and Loyola starting the regular season 0-2.

This past week they won two matches to square their season mark at 2-2 and give them a 2-0 Western 7B record.

They began the week with a 3-0 sweep of conference newcomer Superior, then capped the week’s work with another 3-0 sweep that was a tougher battle Saturday versus Mission.

Against Superior, the Lady Hawks used their height advantage and athletic ability to overwhelm the Lady Bobcats, who are working to find their way with a young group of players after several senior leaders graduated last Spring.

Working the net with assassin-like kill shots and serves, the Hawks jumped to a big early lead and added to it throughout the first set on their way to a 25-9 win and a 1-0 match lead.

T Falls repeated that display in the second set, once again bolting out to an early lead that proved insurmountable as they took the second set by a similar 25-9 count.

With a 2-0 match lead in their grip, T Falls completed the eye-catching sweep with a 25-7 third set victory.

A sizable portion of the credit for the victory was the Blue Hawks ability to set up and return shots. Junior Olivia Fitchett recorded an impressive 29 assists during the match, along with four service aces. Meanwhile, six-foot sophomore Gabi Hannum had 10 kills and one block, while junior Sarah Koskela led the team in kills with 11. She also had a pair of digs for the Lady Hawks.

Saturday T Falls hit the road for a match-up with the Mission Lady Bulldogs in St. Ignatius. They put together another sweep, but were taken to the limit by the host team during the first set.

T Falls won the first set 25-23 to take a 1-0 match lead. They then took control of the match with an easier 25-14 victory in the second set, giving them a 2-0 lead.

The third set was like a mix of the first two as Thompson Falls won 25-17 to sew up the sweep.

Fitchett continued her assist assault, piling up a match high 22 for the Lady Hawks. Hannum added nine kills and two service aces to the cause, while Koskela had two aces, five kills and four digs.

Izzy Evans paced Mission with 12 kills and two aces for the Lady Bulldogs.

Next up for Thompson Falls is a Thursday evening game against rival Plains, followed by a road trip to Anaconda Saturday to take on the Lady Copperheads.