Ronan saves the trees

WHITEFISH - Look up the definition of "home court advantage" in the dictionary and there's probably a photo of Whitefish's home fans. They can get a little nuts during volleyball matches.

"It's a big deal since the game is such a mental thing," Ronan head coach Naomi Mock said. "Their bench is so loud. They just let you have it and they make it hard to hear."

Ronan was able to tune out the noise in their second game against Whitefish, winning in extra points 25-27, but ended up losing 3-1 on Thursday. Whitefish won the other three matches 25-21, 25-18, 25-21.

"They were covering things better," Mock said. "They were finding holes."

Against Libby on Friday, the Maidens picked up their fourth conference victory with a 3-1 win, 25-20, 21-25, 25-13, 25-18.

After a lineup mistake had the girls out of rotation, Mock said the girls overcame adversity to win the first game, before the team could switch back to their normal grouping.

"When we went to serve we were out of rotation," Mock said. "The setters were off. They overcame it though."

In the game, seniors Alice Van Gunten led the team with nine kills and Melissa McCrea had 16 digs.

Junior Tuesday Salmon had three aces in the match.

Ronan has made a living overcoming adversity this season, and beating Libby for the regular season sweep had them currently sitting third in the conference.

"I think we're in a great spot," Mock said.

Ronan is currently second in the conference in hitting percentage and senior Tailyr Irvine leads the conference with an individual hitting percentage of .439. McCrea leads the conference in digs with 140.

"It's a great tool to show where the girls are at," Mock said of the statistics.