Volleyball: Libby sweeps Columbia Falls, Ronan

Jackie Mee may wear a new uniform number, but she still hits the same … maybe better.

The Lady Logger senior helped her team to a 25-16, 25-13, 25-18 victory on Thursday night over visiting Columbia Falls. And along with a 25-17, 25-11, 25-16 win over Ronan on Saturday, Libby is off to a 3-0 start in the Northwestern A.

“We were in good control of the match,” Libby coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston said about Columbia Falls. “We need to clean up our game but overall I was pleased.”

Libby got off to its trademark slow start and trailed 7-3 in the early going. It all turned around when Mee got a kill for sideout and then served six straight points. Over that stretch, Alex Kulbeck, Alysha Martin and Mee hit for points.

“That’s what we need; we need to keep teams’ defenses honest by calling on our other hitters,” Ostrem-Johnston said.

Katie Emery and Logan Best were examples of other hitters contributing to the offensive cause. Columbia Falls got some pretty good kills out of junior Kyla DeWit but also had a number of unforced errors that hurt.

Libby led 24-13 at one point behind the efforts of Emery. After blocking for a point for sideout, Emery followed up with two ace serves. The Wildkats got three points back but Libby finished it out when the visitors served long.

In the second game, the Loggers controlled the pace from the start and held leads of 5-1, 12-4, 17-6 and 20-9. One of the more interesting points of game 2 occurred when Evi Cernick hit a backward dink over for a point. Martin also had a couple of good hits and Mee had a serving streak of five points.

Libby and Columbia Falls played close most of the way in the third game. The Loggers started to build a cushion midway through. Leading 13-12, Libby took advantage of a Columbia Falls serve that went wide for sideout and then reeled off three straight points with Lexi Hageness serving – one of those an ace.

Libby eventually built a 20-14 lead only to see the Wildkats stage a late rally. Leading 20-17, Ostrem-Johnston called timeout.

“I told them to go out with an exclamation point,” she said, “and when we get the opportunity to put the ball down strong.”

After Columbia Falls scored another point to pull to within 20-18, Libby did finish strong with the final five points. Emery got a kill for sideout and then Martin served the rest of the way – the final two points coming on aces.

Passing had periodic breakdowns but got the job done. Mee had 10 of the team’s 28 digs and a 2.29 serve-receive ratio while Malena Sweet and Alyssa Walker had five and three, respectively. Best had a perfect 3.0 serve-receive ratio.

“I wish we would’ve passed a little more precise,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “It takes options away from us when our passing is off.”

Cernick finished with 25 of the team’s 28 set assists. At the net, Libby came up with some impressive blocks. Emery and Kulbeck were in on a couple.

“It really makes teams think about how they’re going to hit the next time,” Ostrem-Johnston said about Libby’s presence at the net.

Mee and Martin each had four ace serves. Cernick, Sweet and Hageness each had two. Cernick had 100-percent success serving and Mee finished at 93 percent.

Mee had a dozen kills and a .500 attack percentage. Martin had seven kills and Emery added five. As a team, LHS had a season-best .387 attack percentage.

The Lady Loggers then headed to Ronan on Saturday and took another sweep from a conference foe.  Mee collected 21 kills and had a .769 attack percentage in the victory. In 26 hit attempts, Mee had just one error –  a near-perfect performance. Martin’s 10 kills and .450 attack percentage kept Ronan guessing.

At the service line, Best finished with three aces. Sweet, Martin, Mee and Emery each had two aces. As a team, the Loggers had a season-best 93-percent success rate serving which included several significant scoring runs.

Cernick had 35 set assists and Mee had a pair of blocks. Martin led in digs with 14 while Mee had nine digs and a 2.73 serve-receive ratio. Four players had a 2.00 or above in that department – Mee, Sweet (2.33), Martin (2.13) and Best (2.00).

Libby (3-0 in region, 4-0 overall) plays at home on Saturday against Polson.