Libby splits matches at Mission volleyball tourney

The Libby Lady Loggers volleyball team started their season Saturday, Aug. 29, at a tournament in Mission. The young Lady Loggers split all three matches in pool play before dropping to Thompson Falls in tournament play.

“We split with everybody in pool play and lost to Thompson Falls in the first match of tournament play,” Loggers head coach, Cindy Ostrem-Johnston, said.

The Lady Loggers started pool with a 20-10 victory over Plains in the first set. The Loggers lost the second set of the match, 15-20.

The Lady Loggers once again won the first set of their second match against Ronan with a score of 20-14. They dropped the second set 18-20.

In the final match of pool play the Loggers lost the first set to Deer Lodge, 17-20 and won the second set 20-13.

The Loggers started tournament play with a 15-17 loss to Thompson Falls. They lost the second set of the match, 10-15.

“We were up 5-1 in the second set,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “They got the momentum from us and ran away with it. After that lose we were done. It was a single elimination tournament.”

This was the first time the inexperienced Lady Loggers team played together and the coach said she was pleased with the way her team performed.

“Overall I thought they competed well for the first time playing together as a group,” she said.

Ostrem-Johnston said that there are three things that her team will be focusing on in practice.

“We need to work on cleaning up our passes and increasing our serving percentage,” she said. “We just need to be more consistent and that will come. Those are the three things we are going to focus on moving forward. Overall I was pretty pleased with the way we played. There is always room for improvement. I saw a lot of good things and I still see a lot of potential in this team.”

Ashley Walker finished the tournament with seven aces, 24 assists and served 100 percent.

“As a team we served 87 percent,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “I’d like to get that number in the nineties.”

As a team the Loggers finished with 23 aces, 39 kills, 28 assists and 68 digs.

“We had a lot of different kids contribute in a number of areas,” Ostrem-Johnston said. “It was nice to see everybody on the team contribute.”

The Lady Loggers next game will be Saturday, Sept. 5, on the road against Florence.