Stillwater bounces C-Falls

COLUMBIA FALLS - It helps when you've been there before.

The Stillwater Christian Cougar faced deficits in both the first and third sets on Thursday, but bounced back both times to sweep Columbia Falls 27-25, 25-17, 26-24 in a nonconference volleyball match.

"We've had some experience at that lately," said Stillwater coach Dave Shawback.

He pointed out that earlier in the week, the Cougars trailed Stevensville in the second set and came back to win 26-24. They defeated the Yellowjackets 26-24 in the fourth set as well, he said.

"It's something that we're experienced at and I think that made a difference. When you are experienced - and you win, the team never counts themselves out. They just keep pushing to the end," he said.

"We had to be mentally tough and really push through," agreed Stillwater junior setter Morgan Paolini.

"We had to rely on our team to come together. We had to help pull each other out of the holes. It's really hard to do it by yourself sometimes and our team came together and really helped support each other," she added.

It also helps when a freshman steps in for an ill upperclassman and plays exceptionally well.

Jade LeGassey - a 5-foot-5 freshman outside - stepped in for Katie Harrel. Harrel is a middle blocker for the Cougars, who also serves well and plays all the way around.

"She definitely played really well today," Shawback said of LeGassey.

"I thought Columbia Falls did a good job at the net. They got their hands on a lot, blocked a lot. Jade had a lot of better attacks because she's shorter. She's hitting up at the block instead of down at the block," Shawback said.

"Jade just stepped into her role. Katie would have been pleased with the job she did," the coach said.

"It was amazing to see (LeGassey) step up and really take the responsibility of being in a senior's position and really handling it well," Paolini said.

On the other side, the Wildkats struggled to hold leads. It was up 21-17 in the first set and 20-14 in the third.

"We get comfortable and know we have it in the bag," said Columbia Falls coach Addy Connelly.

"But this isn't a JV team. It's not practice. That other team is still fighting and they do every time," she said.

"We are doing better. We're no longer playing not to lose. We're just playing. We're not playing not to lose, but we're not playing to win. We've got one more shift we have to make," she said.

"We can't have one person on and other five off. We have to have all six cylinders running. When we do we're unstoppable - and you can see it in the beginning of our games," she said.

"It's going to be a matter of us putting it all together. We've got three weeks to get it done," Connelly said.

Stillwater cut down on mistakes in the second set and cruised.

"I think our serving was better in the second game," the coach said.

"Jade served a lot of volleyballs just in the court, which allowed our team to play," Shawback said.

Jordan Danz led the Cougars with 16 kills, five blocks and 14 digs. Paolini added 42 set assists and four service aces.

Haley Belgarde was money on the right side for the Wildkats with 10 kills. Jaylynn Cantu and Gabrielle Stenger had 10 digs apiece and Shaun Rowe had four aces.

The Cougars are off now until Monday when they play Glacier JV - the Cougars are the only loss on Glacier's record.

"I know they'll be ready for us," Shawback smiled.

The Wildkats, meanwhile, are at the Missoula County Invitational this weekend.

Kills - Stillwater 45 (Jordan Danz 16, Jade LeGassey 10), Columbia Falls 34 (Haley Belgarde 10, Hope Burlage 7), Assists - Stillwater 42 (Morgan Paolini 42), Columbia Falls 30 (Burlage 19), Blocks - Stillwater 11 (Danz 5, Sarah Paolini 3), Columbia Falls 6 (Jessie Gist 2), Digs - Stillwater 47 (Danz 14, Samantha Auger 11), Columbia Falls 55 (Jaylynn Cantu 10, Gabrielle Stenger 10), Aces - Stillwater 8 (Morgan Paolini 4, LeGassey 2), Columbia Falls 9 (Shaun Rowe 4).