Stillwater makes it 10-0

Ball control. Aggressive serving. Team chemistry.

Those were the reasons Stillwater Christian volleyball coach Dave Shawback gave on Tuesday night for the Cougars' 25-12, 25-10, 25-17 sweep of visiting Columbia Falls (0-2).

Jordan Danz led Stillwater (10-0, 3-0) with nine kills, 10 digs and two blocks, followed by Julia Smith with seven kills, nine digs and four aces.

It was the team play, though, that had Shawback smiling.

"(The Cougars) are playing really well as a team, offensively and defensively both. Everybody is able to contribute and I can't stress the team thing enough. They are playing really well together," Shawback said.

Stillwater Christian had 30 kills - five hitters recorded two or more. It had 44 digs - seven girls had at least two. On top of that, the Cougars served 93 percent as a team with 10 aces.

"(Volleyball is) such a mental game. It takes so much coordination. It's the smallest court in team sports - they have to be able to work well together," Shawback added.

"Julia Smith, one of our captains, is playing with a lot of confidence and most importantly, providing our team with leadership on the floor," he said.

On the other side, the Wildkats passed the ball well and put up some nice sets, but struggled to put the ball away.

Unofficially, Columbia Falls had 21 hitting errors, while managing just 13 kills on the night.

"Our hitting was definitely off," said Wildkat coach Addy Connelly.

"We couldn't put the ball down very well. That really is a struggle when we're getting some good passes and putting some good balls up.

"They probably had their best passing game. We didn't have too many serve receive errors - which is fantastic for us - but putting that ball away was tough for us today," she said.

The Wildkat hitters had a tough time from the beginning - 10 errors in the first set helped the Cougars build a 14-point lead.

Columbia Falls cut the hitting mistakes to three in the second set, but by then Stillwater Christian was rolling.

"We get down, then we have a big hole we have to dig out of - it makes it tough," Connelly said.

"It starts working on their confidence. Each player has to find (confidence) inside and pull it out. It's not something you can really teach. They have to get some confidence in what they are doing out there. I know they have it. I see it in their other sports," she said.

"I think we had good ball control and really good serving," Shawback said.

"Coach Dallas (Shawback) does a good job of calling serves, trying to reduce the opponents' effectivenes," he said.

Columbia Falls fought back in the third set, cutting the lead to four points at 16-12.

But the Wildkats were never able to get any closer.

Danielle Gilley led Columbia Falls with five kills and nine digs. Shaun Rowe also had nine digs. Hope Burlage and Erika Nelson had five assists each.

The Cougars are off now until Tuesday when they play host to Whitefish.

"We've worked hard to get an aggressive schedule. By far, this is our most aggressive schedule," Shawback said.

"It raises the level of our play - there are no nights off. It's just a great motivational thing for our kids to come out and compete," he said.

The Wildkats are off until next Thursday, when they also play host to Whitefish.

Kills - Columbia Falls 13 (Danielle Gilley 5), Stillwater Christian 30 (Jordan Danz 9, Julia Smith 7); Assists - Columbia Falls 11 (Hope Burlage 5, Erika Nelson 5); Stillwater Christian 27 (Morgan Paolini 26); Blocks - Columbia Falls 2 (no leader) Stillwater Christian 9 (Kathrynn Gerard 3, Danz 2); Digs - Columbia Falls 45 (Gilley 9, Shaun Rowe 9) Stillwater Christian 44 (Danz 10, Smith 9); Aces - Columbia Falls 2 (Gilley 1, Erin Hill 1), Stillwater Christian 10 (Smith 4, Bridjett Miller 3).