Polson Pirate girls score 3-0 volleyball win over Columbia Falls

Jenna Cederberg, Leader Staff

Like any good athlete, Nicole Davey makes what she does look easy.

The junior hitter for the Pirates varsity team has had a breakout season as one of the Pirates' top hitters. She had a personal-record 20 kills during the team's loss to Libby last week, is averaging three kills per game and is fifth in Northwestern A for hitting percentage (32.6).

Against Columbia Falls last week she had 11, and helped the Pirates to a huge offensive night and an easy 3-0 win over Columbia Falls.

It takes about two second for her hits to leave her hand and move across the court, but Davey will be the first to tell you just how many of her teammates are responsible for getting her into that position.

After the game last week, Davey couldn't say enough about the back row that stepped up and make sure the team could transition and put down kills to generate points and crucial side outs.

"As a team, we did awesome," Davey said. "Our passes were as good as they get."

With a back row she obviously can't do without keeping the ball off the floor and moving toward the setter, Davey made the Wildkats uncomfortable all night with her kills. For these, she again pointed to her teammates, saying she also relies on the back row to guide her on where to place the kills.

"I'm really bad about placing (hits)," she said. "But I hear the back row and place it from that … It feels really good to get a kill."

The Pirates kept all the pieces neatly arranged all night, resulting in the 34 kills and three quick game wins.

Quickly shaking off the 3-1 weekend loss to Libby, the team recorded 34 kills and had a team-record 13 aces. Sophomore Breanne Kelley led the team with 12 kills. Kelley is fourth in the conference with a hitting percentage of 33.9.

The win puts the Pirates at 3-3 - fourth in the conference behind Libby, Bigfork and Whitefish.

Columbia Falls had trouble closing points throughout the game; in game one, the Pirates jumped to an early 9-4 lead and used the Wildkats' mounting penalties to keep their offense clicking.

The Kats were in the net numerous times throughout the night and could not transition through defense to successful kills. Even when Wildkats' hits came through, the Pirates' back row was there, playing one of its best nights of the season.

The Pirates took game one 25-23.

The Columbia Falls team had 50 digs, showing how much it was having to cover the court with the Pirates firing like they were.

In game two, sophomore setter Kayla Duford took the lead and, along with her usual team-leading 30 assists, served a streak of points that landed her team the 25-15 win. She had six of the team's 13 aces.

Kelley had four aces and eight digs.

"They came out and didn't want to let up," assistant coach Tammy Kelley said.

Kelley said the girls played well in Libby the week before as well, but this time it had the homecoming crowd cheering for it and, more importantly, played through the entire game.

The Wildkats again let penalties and net violations get them down in game three. With the Pirates still getting well-placed kills through the blockers, they could hold one. Polson sealed the match win 25-16 on a jump serve by Kelley.

Pirate opponent point runs late in games has hurt the team this season. Several times during the match, Columbia Falls did creep up during mid-game.

"I think we just get too confident," Davey said of the team's lulls. "We don't keep pushing to get the aggression."

Thursday, the team had enough other good things happening not to let the glitches get it down, and Kelly said consistency is something the team will try to work on during practice.

The team has the weekend off to enjoy homecoming, but has three matches on its plate next week.

First the Pirates face area rival Ronan in Ronan, then move to non-conference away games against Corvallis and Stevensville.