Lady Hawks earn top seed at divisional

The year 2024 will be remembered in local volleyball lore as the year the rivalry between Thompson Falls and Plains reached a new level.

And the season ain’t over yet. 

After Plains advanced to the T Falls-hosted Western 7B district tournament with a play-in win over Troy, the two rivals were set to square off Saturday afternoon in the rubber match of their season series. Each team won their regular season home game against the other. 

At stake was the right to face top-seeded and unbeaten Eureka in the District championship game Saturday evening. Eureka swept aside Mission to reach the championship game and was expected to add the district title to its season haul. 

But in both cases, the Lady Hawks from Thompson Falls had other ideas and plans. Since losing to Plains earlier in the year in an intense, 3-2 match in Plains, the Lady Hawks were on an 11-2 match run, their only two losses in that stretch coming at the hands of Eureka’s Lady Lions. 

Plains came into the match with T Falls sporting a 10-3 season mark, with one loss to T Falls and two losses to Eureka. 

So it was probably an eye-opener for the fans who packed the gym in anticipation of another 3-2 nail-biter. 

It was not to be on this day. 

T Falls grabbed an early lead in the first set and steadily pulled away to a 25-12 win and a 1-0 match advantage.  

Set two was closer, but T Falls controlled the net and chalked up a 25-16 victory, upping their match lead to 2-0. 

Plains could not catch up after that and fell in the third set by a 25-15 count, completing the 3-0 match sweep and sending T Falls to the championship match versus Eureka, while Plains played for third place against Mission. Plains won that match, 3-0. 

All four teams advanced to the Western Division finals in Anaconda. 

First, the highly anticipated showdown for the district title was yet to be played with the Lady Lions waiting for the winner of the Plains-T Falls game. 

Eureka, which came into the match with a 19-0 season record, opened the match with a 25-18 first set victory that seemed to meet fans expectations of the unbeaten Lady Lions. 

However, Thompson Falls was locked and loaded for a fight to the finish as was evident in a thrilling, hard-won second set, 26-24 win over the previously unbeaten Lions. 

With Eureka reeling from the second set loss, T Falls kept up the high energy attack, taking an early lead in the second set eking out a narrow 25-23 win that tied the match at 1-1. 

T Falls seized on that momentum like a shark smelling blood in the water and put Eureka away with a surprisingly comfortable 25-13 third set win that put them ahead 2-1 in the match count. 

However, the Lady Lions showed why they won 19 matches without a loss as they regrouped and engaged the Lady Hawks in a frenetic, back-and-forth battle that delighted the partisan crowd in the TFHS gym.  In the end, Thompson Falls had enough left in the tank to score the final two points of the fourth set, breaking away from a 23-23 tie and securing a 25-23 set win. 

That gave them a 3-1 match victory, spoiling Eureka’s 19-game winning streak and relegating the Lady Lions to the second seed in Anaconda this week.  The victory pushed T Falls season mark to 13-5 and earned them the top seed from 7B in the Anaconda tourney. 

Deer Lodge, 13-18 on the year, advanced to the 6B championship game against top-seeded Florence-Carlton, who swept the Lady Wardens 3-0. 

And if fans are ready, the winners of the Plains and T Falls Divisional matches meet in the semifinals at 6:45 pm Thursday, in what could be a fourth match this season among the two Sanders County rivals. 

    Plains Trotters Claire Lakko (left) and Aubree Butcher attempt to block a shot by Thompson Falls' Gabi Hannum (white jersey) during their 7B semifinal match in T Falls this past weekend.  The Lady Hawks won the district tournament over Eureka.  (Photo by Tracy Scott)