Lady Bulldogs take third in districts; head to divisionals

By Karen Peterson / Lead Staff

ST. IGNATIUS — The Lady Bulldogs are heading to divisionals on Thursday after taking third place at the district tournament.

"I am so proud of the girls. They really stepped it up in all areas, not just in their playing, but in their attitudes to the sport and to themselves. They really seemed to know what they were aiming for at the tournament," head coach Kimimi Ashley said.

In the first match, against Plains, the Lady Bulldogs played hard and defeated the competition, knowing that if they won they would automatically make it to divisisionals. They pulled out the win in five games, 19-25, 25-22, 19-25, 25-6, 15-9.

"In the fourth game when Plains was ahead 2 (games) to 1, the Bulldogs really focused and came on strong. We knew that serving had to be almost perfect in this game. And the girls really stepped it up serving at 96 percent, with five aces, three of those coming from Mattea Grant. Kelsey Cable had a great game with 13 kills, her highest all season. And right behind her was Rachel Jensen with eight kills and three blocks," Ashley said.

Against Thompson Falls, the girls didn't come out as strong, losing 25-13, 25-15 and 25-15.

"The 'Dogs second match was against the eventual tournament champion, Thompson Falls. Every time we play T.Falls, I go into it thinking we can beat them," she said.

The 'Dogs took the third match against Troy, 3-2.

"We talked about not being satisfied with just getting to go to Divisionals. Our program is working to get better over the years and if we won this game we would be one place higher than our fourth place finish from the previous year. Not only that, we would get a chance to play Eureka and possibly get into the championship," Ashley said.

With the win against Troy, the Lady Dogs were getting their chance to play Eureka.

"We were excited, because we really do feel that we can beat Eureka. It didn't show in the first two games, with Eureka beating us 25-5 and 25-10, but in the third game, the girls just took on a whole new life. They just played and their confidence grew with each point, and they won the third game 25-14," she said.

"We started the fourth game with Eureka getting ahead, but towards the end, the Lady Dogs were fighting back but Eureka ended up taking it at 25-19. The girls were fighting hard right to the finish."

Katie McDonald had 20 digs and Grant had 17 assists.

"Dalena Weaselhead stepped up her serving and got us some much needed points. Rachel Jensen followed up her great performance against Troy with nine kills. The whole team just backed each other up. I was very proud of their performance and hard work," Ashley said.