Volleyball sweeps Whitefish, finishes second at Butte tourney
Dillen Hoerner goes up for a block against Whitefish last week. (Daniel McKay/Whitefish Pilot)
The Wildkat volleyball team continued to dominate conference competition last week before going on the road to play in a pair of large tournaments over the weekend.
The Kats swept Whitefish at home Tuesday to stay unbeaten in Northwest A action, rolling past the Lady Bulldogs 25-15, 25-22 and 27-25.
“Both teams fought hard, but we found ways to be resilient and got the job done,” Wildkat head coach Jolandie Brooks said.
Madysen Hoerner had 14 of the Kats’ 37 kills in the win and added a pair of aces while Kiera Brown added eight kills and three blocks. Hannah Schweikert had 32 of the team’s 33 assists and added three aces to lead the Kats there, too. Angellica Street had 22 of the team’s 49 digs while Dillen Hoerner added 10 and Lauren Falkner had three blocks.
The Kats were in action Thursday and Friday at the MCPS Tournament in Missoula, where they finished second in pool play on the first day before eliminated with losses to Florence and Flathead Saturday. The Wildkats took Florence to three sets before losing by two and then had to play with several non-starters for much of the game against Flathead due to injuries.
After climbing on the bus and making the drive to Butte, the Wildkats were back in action Saturday at the one-day Blocktober Tournament. The Kats went 4-0 in pool play, defeating Hamilton, Butte High’s JV, Fergus and Stevensville before falling to Corvallis in the tournament championship game, 25-23, 25-21.
It was the second loss for Kats against the Lady Blue Devils and only the second loss of the season, something that Brooks says will help motivate her team as the playoffs approach.
“I feel like we let them beat us,” she said. “I say it like that because I feel like we gave more points to them than they earned - which is completely on us and will be a huge contributing factor to these final days in practice and how determined we are to work harder and get better.”
The Kats were looking to clinch the Northwestern A Conference title at home Tuesday as they took on Polson. The team will be back in action Nov. 2 as they wrap up the regular season with a home matchup against Browning.