Whitefish spikers drill C-Falls

WHITEFISH - It took a few minutes for the Whitefish Lady Bulldogs to settle down.

It is, after all, homecoming week at Whitefish and they were facing Northwestern A volleyball rival Columbia Falls.

They could be forgiven for the three or four overpasses they giftwrapped for the Wildkat front row to start the first game.

But after spotting the Wildkats a 4-1 lead in the first game, the Bulldogs came together, settled in and came away with a 3-set victory. Scores were 25-16, 25-19, 25-10.

"Our passing started out a little slow" said Whitefish senior setter Jessica Slaybaugh.

"We got ourselves into a little hole. But we just came together. Columbia Falls served well. We just had to adjust to that," she said.

"We just needed to trust each other. Coach (Jackie) Fuller does a really nice job of keeping us together," Slaybaugh said.

The turnaround started with a Heather Bailey block. From there, "we got one good pass, a good hit and we got the momentum going," said senior outside hitter Kaitlyn Wehrli.

A good serving run by Bailey didn't hurt, either.

Trailing 3-4 when she went back to serve, Bailey ran off 10 straight points. By the time Columbia Falls' Kayla DeWit got a kill to get the serve back, the Wildkats were down 12-5.

The Bulldogs rolled on from there.

"We just came together and we knew what we had to do. We had to pass better and stay together and keep pushing," Wehrli said.

"We served the ball well and we kept them out of an offense," Fuller said.

"We started off in a little funk on serve receive and that was not good. We fed (the Wildkats) three times and they put them down. The adrenaline was just a-pumping and we couldn't get settled in. But we just all came together," she said.

"Whitefish came to play. We didn't," was all Columbia Falls coach Addy Hines said.

The Wildkats built an 8-4 lead to start the second game, but a couple of serving runs by Bailey and Wehrli put Whitefish ahead, 13-10. Columbia Falls fought back within a point at 13-12, but Whitefish got a tip to fall, then served up a couple of aces to build a 23-17 lead.

The Wildkats got on a bit of a run at the end with DeWit getting back-to-back kills on quicks, but it was too little, too late.

The third game was over quickly.

Wehrli had eight kills and 21 digs. Slaybaugh added 11 assists and served three aces. Bailey finished with four aces and three blocks and Oliva Nagler contributed four kills, six assists and three blocks.

DeWit led Columbia Falls with nine kills. Shay Grilley had eight assists and five digs. Tianna Burns and Brooke Cady added five digs each and Lexie Bartkoski and Cassidee Skiles each served two aces.

"I'm just proud of them. The girls played hard, especially with all the excitement that's going on around here (with Homecoming)," Fuller said.

Fuller complimented the Wildkats on DeWit's ability to control the middle.

That's why serving tough was such a big deal for Whitefish, she said.

"If we didn't, we'd be in trouble," she said.

"I continue to be impressed with Jessica Slaybaugh and what she is doing," Fuller said. "And Kaitlyn Wehrli stepped up. We put her in a position where she's got to serve receive more."

Kills - Columbia Falls 16 (Kayla DeWit 9), Whitefish 18 (Kaitlyn Wehrli 8, Olivia Nagler 4), Assists - Columbia Falls 12 (Shay Grilley 8), Whitefish 17 (Jessica Slaybaugh 11, Olivia Nagler 6), Blocks: Columbia Falls 1 (No leader); Whitefish 9 (Nagler 3, Heather Bailey 3), Digs - Columbai Falls 28 (Tianna Burns 5, Grilley 5, Brooke Cady 5), Whitefish 73 (Wehrli 21, Madison Tveidt 16), Aces - Columbia Falls 4 (Lexie Bartkoski 3, Cassidee Skiles 2). Whitefish - 15 (Bailey 4, Slaybaugh 3).