On Fiiiiiire!

By Jenna Cederberg / Leader staff

ST. IGNATIUS — The Scarlets' fan will tell you, they're on fiiiiire.

The team went undefeated this past week, climbing to 4-0 after an intense match against area rival Mission Tuesday night that went four games, and pitted not only player against player, but fan against fan.

The Scarlets won the first game 25-14, with the support of fans who made the trip up to St. Ignatius. Game two saw the Maidens falter for the only time that night, losing 25-21.

Charging back in games three and four, the Maidens finished their impressive run with 25-17 and 25-21 wins.

It was mostly fellow classmates and Warriors who chanted the phrase, "On fiiiire," throughout the week, to the ladies dressed appropriately in red. The team also won 3-2 against Philipsburg on Saturday and 3-1 against Noxon last Thursday.

In the long win over Superior, Arlee made several position swaps that paid off. The team came from a two-game deficit, losing game one 25-10 and game two 25-22.

Head coach Lonnie Morin called the team's response to the must-win games three, four and five amazing. Down to the wire each time, the team found itself and won 26-22, 25-22 and 16-14.

Morin added freshman Cortney Dix to the lineup as starter and moved sophomore Melissa Ivanoff from setter to a hitting position. Cortney had 23 of the team's 33 assists. Morin was impressed by both players' adaptability, writing in an e-mail that both "proved themselves worthy" and "played absolutely amazing."

Cortney not only helped the team on defense, she also led the team with five aces. Morin commented earlier in the week on the Scarlets' strong serving abilities, and was impressed again by the 21 serves Superior couldn't defend.

The Scarlets had 39 kills, 18 by junior hitter Jordan Pfau and 11 by senior Kayla Thomas, but were forced to find other ways to put points on the board due to Superior's defensive toughness. The Bobcat's had 41 digs on the night.

Pfau had 13 digs against Superior. Senior libero Adrieana Trujillo had 5 digs and freshman hitter Kenzi Bradshaw had five.

Pfau also showed her strength in the win over the Noxon Red Devils last week. She kept the Red Devils defense off balance with cross court kills all night, and Noxon wasn't able to set up a firm offense through the entire game one losing 25-18.

Trujillo had a five point serving run in game two against Noxon, and Kayla took the next five points after one side out to put the Scarlets. Thomas also took the lead on hits, and enjoyed the game because she got a lot of kills.

"Hitting's my favorite, it's just a rush," she said.

Thomas said the team kept in the game so well because of the fans and their constant encouragement.

"If they're not here, it's hard for us to play. We're used to playing with lots of noise," she said.

Noxon took advantage of what Morin thought was the Scarlets' trouble with transitioning and won game three, 25-22.

"It's the thing I yell the most about, we need to transition," Morin said.

A refocused Arlee team took the loss in stride, refocused and again relied on Pfau's steady swing to guide it to a 25-10 win.