LHS volleyball season ends at divisionals
Losing two straight at the Northwestern
A tournament wasn’t the ending to Libby High School’s volleyball
season that coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston envisioned.
Unfortunately for the Lady Loggers, the
team struggled to close out the opponent in a tournament-opening
match on Friday against Columbia Falls, and then suffered a
four-game loss to Whitefish to see the season come to a close.
“The good thing is everybody has the
opportunity to come back – except Alex (Kulbeck),” Ostrem-Johnston
said. “I told the girls, it was disappointing losing out in two
over there but they’re a great group of kids, very coachable. They
have fun together, they like each other. It’s fun to sit back and
watch and listen to them.”
Columbia Falls, the host school, handed
Libby a loss in the first round, 25-23, 18-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11.
The Lady Loggers appeared to have Columbia Falls on the ropes in
the first game of the match with a 19-14 lead. But mistakes piled
up and the Wildkats rallied.
“It was unfortunate that we lost that
first game,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “If we’d won the first one, I
think it would’ve changed the outcome. Unforced errors at the end
were crucial.”
Libby took games two and three before
falling in another close one in the fourth. The Loggers trailed
12-5 at one point in the fourth game before Lauren Wepprecht served
the team into a 15-12 lead. But LHS had another dry spell and ended
up losing by two points.
Then in the fifth game – which only
goes to 15 points – the Wildkats had runs of seven and five points
to get the victory.
“Columbia Falls played really well,”
Ostrem-Johnston said. “They played a lot better than they had
against us previously.”
Libby performed well at the service
line with a 91-percent success rate. Wepprecht had six aces while
Lexi Hageness and Kulbeck each had four. Chelsea Bowe served 100
percent, Hageness 95 percent and Kulbeck 90 percent.
“That was one of the highlights of the
match,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “We served 91 percent and had 17
aces. You can’t blame it on our serving.”
Ostrem-Johnston said she was impressed
with Becky Boulware’s defense along with an exceptional attack
percentage. She also mentioned Bowe’s defensive play.
Libby had only an .094 attack
percentage. The team finished with 40 kills – Boulware and Kulbeck
each getting 11 and Wepprecht with 10. Wepprecht had a .400 attack
percentage while Boulware came in with a .300 attack
percentage.
Hageness had 30 of the team’s 34 set
assists. Libby had one team block – Kulbeck and Wepprecht both
getting credit. For digs, Alyssa Walker had 15 while Kim Tangen
finished with 10.
The loss dropped Libby down into an
elimination match later in the day on Friday. Whitefish had lost to
Ronan to set up the meeting with the Lady Loggers. Whitefish took
the win over LHS, 25-19, 25-27, 25-20, 25-19.
“I thought we served well and we passed
pretty well but our attack percentage was low again,”
Ostrem-Johnston said. “The hitters just didn’t come through; we
were at a .151 attack percentage.”
Libby finished with 34 kills – Kulbeck
had 15 along with a .209 attack percentage. Tangen and Boulware
each had seven kills. Tangen had a .217 attack percentage. Hageness
finished with 32 assists and Tangen had two blocks.
Libby’s 92-percent serving percentage
was anchored by Bowe’s 100 percent and four aces, and Tangen’s two
aces. In the digs category, Bowe and Walker finished with 16 and
13, respectively. Bowe had an exceptional 2.41 serve-receive
ratio.
Polson went on to defeat Whitefish for
the tournament title.
The Lady Loggers finished with a 5-9
overall record after going 2-6 during the regular season in the
Northwestern A.
“We played the entire season with sick
kids,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “Kim was in terrible shape; Alex was
sick again. It’s frustrating not to have everybody healthy and
playing at their best. That’s the way our season went.”
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Northwestern A Tournament
C. Falls 3, Libby 2
Friday at Columbia Falls
Scoring by Games:
C. Falls
25 18
21 25 15
Libby
23 25
25 23 11
Kills–Libby 40 (Kulbeck 11, Boulware 11),
Columbia Falls 31 (Gilley 9). Blocks–Libby 1 (Kulbeck, Wepprecht),
Columbia Falls 8 (Stenger 2, Burlage 2). Digs–Libby 50 (Walker 15),
Columbia Falls 87 (Rowe 34). Assists–Libby 34 (Hageness 30),
Columbia Falls 28 (Dierenfield 15). Aces–Libby 17 (Wepprecht 6),
Columbia Falls 15 (Stenger 5).
Whitefish 3, Libby 1
Friday at Columbia Falls
Scoring by Games:
Whitefish
25 25
25 25
Libby
19 27
20 19
Kills–Whitefish 45 (Bailey 18), Libby 34
(Kulbeck 15). Blocks–Whitefish 11 (Strellnauer 3), Libby 3 (Tangen
2). Digs–Whitefish 49 (Bailey 19), Libby 64 (Bowe 15).
Assists–Whitefish 41 (Nagler 27), Libby 32 (Hageness 31).
Aces–Whitefish 8 (Viscomi 3), Libby 8 (Bowe 4).
Northwestern A Tournament
Friday’s Results
Columbia Falls def. Libby, 25-23, 18-25,
21-25, 25-23, 15-11
Ronan def. Whitefish, 25-16, 25-21, 17-25,
19-25, 15-7
Polson def. Columbia Falls, 25-10, 25-12,
25-9
Whitefish def. Libby, 25-19, 25-27, 25-20,
25-19
Polson def. Ronan, 25-22, 25-22, 25-17
Saturday’s Results
Whitefish def. Columbia Falls, 25-20, 25-11,
23-25, 25-22
Whitefish def. Ronan, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16
Championship Match
Polson def. Whitefish, 20-25, 18-25, 25-22,
25-16, 15-7