Low-seeds upset Libby (and others)
<p>Senior Lauren Wepprecht winds up a kill in her last-ever high school game, a 3-0 loss to the Columbia Falls Wildkats.</p>
Despite coming together to be competitive in the last few games, Libby missed its mark by a week.
Fourth- and fifth-seeded Columbia Falls and Frenchtown decided to come together as teams at the perfect time and ran roughshod over the other Northwest A schools.
Third-place Libby was beaten 3-1 by Polson and then swept out of the building, losing 3-0 to Columbia Falls.
“It wasn’t our day,” said head coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston. “We weren’t playing like we were in the last few matches.”
Libby lost hard to Polson, 25-17, 19-25, 25-13, 14-25, a turnaround from the upset in last week’s matchup.
Poor serving was the problem for the Lady Loggers, according to Ostrem-Johnston. It was something Libby had struggled with all season, but had appeared to clean up in the last two weeks.
Six missed first serves in the first game and inefficient hitting sunk Libby’s shot at a win.
The Lady Loggers had only six aces, compared to 26 in the last meeting. Senior Lauren Wepprecht had 11 of 24 kills and sophomore setter Hannah England had 20 assists. Libby earned 50 digs, and sophomore libero Mahalah Wedel notched 20.
“I think their nerves got to them,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “Maybe they just wanted it too much. The confidence wasn’t there.”
Libby, perhaps reeling from the loss to Polson, was whacked by a Columbia Falls team playing better than it had all season.
The Wildkats shut Libby down 25-20, 25-22, 25-23.
Libby serving and hitting was better than against Polson, but Columbia Falls was the better team in the match.
A bright spot for the Lady Loggers was Wepprecht claiming 16 of her team’s 32 kills with a .455 attack percentage.
“She came to me after the game and said ‘at least I went out with a bang’,” Ostrem-Johnston said of Wepprecht. “We were all sad to see it end. It was a fun season for us.”
England added 27 assists, Wedel had 16 digs, and sophomore outside hitter Hailey Craig had four aces. Junior middle blocker Taylor Quinn and senior outside hitter Harley Nelson had a block each.
Wepprecht and Nelson are the only graduating players.Wedel, England, Craig, Quinn and sophomore middle hitter Devon Gallagher, all starters, will return for Libby.
Ostrem-Johnston was quick to thank the boosters, Rosauers, the parents, and of course, the leadership of her two seniors.