Polson volleyball wins home debut

POLSON — Polson fans call outside hitter Chloie Huerta “the hammer.”

If Thompson Falls’ volleyball team didn’t know why, the point was nailed home on Tuesday.

Huerta spiked 16 kills to lead Polson to a five-set victory (21-25, 25-15, 25-14, 14-25, 15-11) over the Blue Hawks. It was Polson’s first game of the 2013 season.

“Chloie Huerta had a really great game,” Jan Toth, Polson’s coach said. “That girl doesn’t really have a lot self-confidence, and I think this game she saw what she can do.”

Toth thinks the senior will make some waves throughout the region this season.

“People are afraid of her, and they should be,” Toth said. “She can swing.”

Huerta, a shy girl when the volleyball’s not in the air, was excited to exact some revenge on Thompson Falls, which beat the Pirates in three sets last season.

“It’s pretty awesome to come back and beat them in five,” Huerta said.

One of very few Polson players with varsity experience, Huerta knows how important it was to pick up a five-set win this early in the season. She said the home crowd helped to motivate the Pirates to play harder as the match went on.

“The crowd really pumped us up,” she said.

The Pirates also got an exciting effort from setter Jaiden Toth, Jan’s daughter.

“She was all over the place,” Jan Toth said. “She saved us a lot. ... She’s just a tough player all around.”

The junior does much more than set, though she did tally up 33 assists. The younger Toth also accrued a team-high 26 digs, three aces and a block.

Toth also knows how important a grinding game can be from a coaching standpoint.

“I always like going to five,” she said. “Everybody would love to beat somebody in three. But going to five, those are gut checks.”

It also afforded her the opportunity to toy around with the rotation to see how her players responded.

“I was putting girls all over the place to see if they could play,” Toth said. “I learned a lot about attitude. I learned a lot about who is going to give 110 percent when the going gets tough.”

In addition to Huerta and her daughter, Toth was happy to see good passing from her back row and a key block from reserve Kaelyn Binder.

“We actually cut her last year,” Toth said. “She was our thirteenth [player].”

At 5-11, Binder could prove a valuable asset to have around the net with Huerta and the rest of Polson’s height, especially against taller opponents like Thompson Falls.

This team looks a lot different from Toth’s from the past few seasons, so expect her to continue to tinker with the lineup.

“This is a new team that I’m coaching,” she said. “Only Jaiden and Chloie and [senior outside] Jessica Hoel a little bit have varsity experience.”

Huerta isn’t worried about the team’s overall inexperience, though.

“I think we just need to keep our energy up,” Huerta said. “We need to keep talking.”

Thrillers like Tuesday’s should make it pretty easy for the Pirates to stay animated.