Mission gets its revenge
Mission senior libero Mackenzie Trudeau gets one of her digs against Plains last Thursday night.
Junior setter Loren Erickson pushes the ball to the outside hitter last weekend at Mission's home tournament.
Sophomore Sara Nerby focuses on the ball at Mission's home tournament last weekend.
ST. IGNATIUS - Mission wanted revenge.
The Lady Bulldogs (5-1 overall, 4-0 conf.) got just that. With a 3-0 victory over Superior last Tuesday, Mission was able to get the proverbial monkey off their backs by trouncing a team that had handed them their only defeat of the season at the end of August.
"When we played them, we didn't know why we lost," Mission assistant coach Annie Morigeau said while filling in for coach Kendal Anderson. "I think it was a good thing they lost that first game so they didn't think they were invincible."
The Lady Bulldogs won 25-23, 25-23, 25-17 as senior Sierra Scott led the team in kills with eight and in aces, with four.
"We worked very, very hard for that game," Morigeau said. "I think that if we would have lost it, it could have snowballed."
After beating Superior, it was questionable if Scott was going to play against Thompson Falls or not because of an arm injury. The team practices six different scenarios to make up for missing one of their senior leaders.
"That's a big spot to fill," Morigeau said.
Anderson also had to take leave for a family matter, and Morigeau coached the team on Saturday in Thompson Falls.
"It was a huge responsibility on my shoulders that I never had before," she said. "I had tremendous support for the girls and the parents."
Morgieau also got a huge boost when Scott was cleared to play for the Lady Bulldogs. That cleared the way for Mission as they defeated Thompson Falls 3-0 with 25-20, 25-14 and 25-10 wins. Scott had nine kills, senior Adessa Durglo had 10 kills and sophomore setter Loren Erickson had 23 assists and three aces.
"[Scott] played the game of her life," Morigeau said. "It's nice to have that senior leadership out on the court. I was able to sleep that night because I didn't want to lose our first conference game with me as coach."
While the Lady Bulldogs have jumped out to a great start to the season, nearing the midway point with an impressive record, they're still improving as a team.
"They're starting to realize we need to do this as a team," Morigeau said. "Once we get to tournament time, it's a whole new season. We're coming up on crunch time."
Mission will play Deer Lodge at 4 p.m. tonight in St. Ignatius.