Volleyball competes at Polson tip-off

Last weekend’s volleyball tournament results were a heartening one for Cindy Ostrem-Johnston.

The Lady Loggers battled 11 other Northwestern and Southwestern A teams at the Polson Tip-off tournament and finished 4-8 in pool play, tying Whitefish and Polson’s JV squad for third. 

“I’m very pleased with the way we competed,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “We made some incredible defensive plays.”

At first brush, 4-8 seems like a fixer-upper, and Ostrem-Johnston doesn’t dispute that, but of those eight losses, five came by less than five points, including a four-point loss to Corvallis, far and away the best team in the region.

“We need to be more disciplined and make better defensive adjustments,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “We had 28 missed first serves. That needs to be fixed.”

Libby swept Hamilton in pool play, split games with Stevensville and Butte Central and then swept Hamilton again to place ninth.

“I don’t think there’s anybody head and shoulders above anyone else,” she said of the conference picture. 

The Lady Loggers had 49 aces and 127 kills during the course of the tournament. Lauren Wepprecht had 38 kills and Devon Gallagher had 33.

Hannah England had 117 of the team’s 119 set assists; Taylor Quinn led the team with three blocks and Mahalah Wedel, libero, had 86 of the team’s digs. 

Libby played in Columbia Falls on Thursday night, too late for print.