Bravettes earn scrappy win over Libby volleyball

Libby volleyball had a shot at stealing away a non-conference win over class-AA Flathead’s junior varsity, but things didn’t pan out as serving took a hit.

Whether a case of nerves or some frustration, the Lady Loggers had some considerable trouble even getting the ball over the net on serves.

“We had a plague of missed serves,” said Libby head coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston. “It was one of things we talked about, and it backfired.”

The Flathead team, while young, had length and agility to fend off the aggressive Libby attacks. The Bravettes beat Libby 3-1; 25-17, 13-25, 25-18, 25-17.

A bright spot for the Lady Loggers was Lauren Wepprecht on the net who seemed to jump higher and hit harder than she had in recent games. She had 17 of her team’s 36 kills and launched fireballs at the Bravette’s junior varsity squad.

In the end, Flathead’s skill proved too much.

“They went out and played their game,” said Flathead junior varsity coach Lauren Gustafson of her team. “They get to decide a lot. I am so proud of them.”

Libby showed glimmers of the team it wants so desperately to be in the second game, when it jumped out to a huge lead over the Bravettes.

“We need to just be able to respond,” Ostrem-Johnston said.

Mahalah Wedel had 22 digs, Hannah England had 27 set assists and Hailey Craig had five aces.

The varsity team is sitting at 1-6 and 1-3 in conference as it waits for Columbia Falls this Saturday.

The freshman team bumped down to 0-7 after Polson and Flathead were able to take tight wins from the Lady Loggers. Polson won 3-1 and Flathead took a 3-2 victory away. 

Two of those lost sets to the Bravettes featured early Libby leads.

Taryne Luscher led the team six kills in the two games. Kaylene Hudson had five aces and India Croucher had 11 digs.