Bulldogs take two losses

BIGFORK — The Mission volleyball team suffered two very different losses last week.

Last Tuesday, the Bulldogs took on Bigfork and lost 20-25, 23-25, 25-21, 20-25. Sophomore outside hitter Ashley Courville had eight digs and junior outside hitter Sierra Scott had five.

“We played awesome,” head coach Kendal Anderson said. “There were volleys that went for three or four minutes. Both teams were just playing the heck out of it. There were a couple silly mistakes but it was just a hard fought game. I can’t be upset that we lost because we played tough.”

Anderson couldn’t say the same when the Bulldogs played Eureka last Saturday and lost 25-20, 21-25, 11-25, 8-25.

After a win in the first set, Mission couldn’t keep the momentum. They battled from 11-15 to 16-15 when senior setter Becky Hiatt served. Courville had a kill to bring the Bulldogs to 17-20 but couldn’t finish.

The Bulldogs started the third set down by five points and couldn’t gain momentum. Mission went on a three point run with senior libero Katie McDonald serving and a hard kill from senior middle hitter Rachel Jensen.

The fourth set is when the Bulldogs packed it in, Anderson said. They started with a seven point deficit  they couldn’t climb out of.

Miscommunication is part of the blame for the loss, Anderson said.

“The girls were running into each other and were calling the second ball instead of the setter and then backing away at the last moment,” Anderson said. “It led to frustration and not talking altogether. Even Eureka’s coach was like ‘thank God your girls had a brain fart because you guys would have kicked our butts.’”

Junior outside hitter Jonna Grant said after the strong start, the team couldn’t keep it together.

“Our team wasn’t playing together and we kept yelling at each other,” she said.

Eureka found Mission’s weakness behind the block and started to tip the ball. Mission wasn’t able to cover that.

“If we would have played like we did at Bigfork against Eureka, we would have annihilated them,” Anderson said.

Jensen led the team in digs, with eight, and kills, with five.

The Bulldogs travel to Plains tonight.