V-ballers show will 'go on' without star player
<p>POLSON HIGH volleyball player Kaelyn Smith (left) and Haley Fyant (right) block a C-Falls' player's attack Saturday at Linderman Elementary </p>
The Polson High School volleyball team has to recalibrate themselves after they were swept by Columbia Falls Thursday at Linderman Elementary School.
The Columbia Falls volleyball team, which consists of three girls over the 6-foot mark, is comprised of the majority of the Lady Wildcats’ basketball team that finished second in the state of Montana last year.
“If you take a look at the size of the Columbia Falls roster, that is the same group of girls (on the basketball team),” Lady Pirates coach Patty Luetzen said. “They play an amazing game and it is fun to watch. The Lady Cats owned the pace of the game and they controlled the ball. We just couldn’t control the game and the only way were scored points was with aggressive serves.”
The Lady Pirates got some more disheartening news when they found out their star player, OH Chadelle Smith, will be out for the season after she suffered a sprained-MCL in the opening tournament against Corvallis.
According to Luetzen, the Lady Pirates had similar results against the now senior-heavy Columbia Falls team.
“Last year’s scores with them were about the same amount and it just seems to be a repeat of last season’s scores,” Luetzen said. “No game was higher than 18 points and we had one in the low teens.”
Luetzen said she felt Columbia Falls’ team is so good they could compete with the AA teams in the state of Montana.
“They are an amazing team and if they were to play a bunch of double A schools, I think they would come out ahead,” Luetzen said.
Luetzen also commented on the efficiency of the Lady Wildcats’ offense.
“They did a nice job moving the ball all along the net,” Luetzen said. “They moved the ball quickly and at many paces. They controlled the ball most of the time. We wanted to control the tempo at more moments of the game but it just didn’t happen.”
Aside from losing Smith for the season, Luetzen said her team is now close to 100 percent healthy which is the first time they have experienced a healthy roster since the first match of the season against Corvallis.
The Lady Pirates will now take on Whitefish.
“Whitefish is one of the more disciplined teams that we will face in the conference,” Luetzen said.
The Lady Pirates are now on the cusp of the conclusion of the first half of the season but still have a lot of conference play left to determine whether they can secure a spot at state. If Polson were to secure a spot at the state volleyball finals, it would be the first time they reached the state tournament in six years.
“Volleyball is not one of the sports that watching a lot of tape is going to necessarily help you at the end of the season,” Luetzen said. “You just have to kind of wait and see what the team’s rosters are looking like towards the end of the season because they may change because of injury.”
LADY PIRATES STAT PACK: