Volleyball roundup: Cougars tune up for state
<p>Stillwater junior outside hitter Sarah Paolini (3) keeps the ball in play Thursday night during the Cougars’ nonconference match against Flathead’s JV/sophomore squad at Stillwater Christian School.</p>
Stillwater Christian School closed out regular-season volleyball play with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-20 Thursday nonconference home victory over the Flathead JV/sophomores.
Sarah Paolini, a 5-foot-8 junior outside hitter, had 16 kills and Megha Tannehill 13 for Stillwater (15-4 overall).
Paolini also led in blocks with three and digs with nine.
“The highlight of the night was when (team) captain Megha Tannehil gave up her starting position to allow fellow teammate and senior Zoe Loomis take over her position on Senior Night,” SCS coach Diane Smith said.
“Included in every practice throughout our season, we do a short devotion. This year the girls choose the topic of building friendships. Megha showed each one of her teammates tonight what it means to be a true friend.”
Up next for the Cougars is the Montana Christian Athletic Association state tournament Oct. 24-26 at Stillwater. The Cougars are the top seed and will face the No. 4 seed from the Eastern Division — Heritage Christian School from Bozeman — at 2:30 a.m. on Oct. 24.
Stillwater Stats Only
Kills: 36 (Sarah Paolini 16, Megha Tannehill 13); Assists: 34 (Dorothy Smith 30); Blocks: 5 (Sarah Paolini 3); Digs: 36 (Paolini 9, Smith 8); Aces: 9 (Sophie George 3)
Bigfork 3, St. Ignatius 0
BIGFORK — Bigfork capitalized on 29 serving aces to down St. Ignatius 25-21, 25-15, 25-22 in District 7B action.
Bigfork (6-7, 3-2 league) led in four of the five statistical areas and tied in the other — blocks.
Alanis Stallknecht had 10 aces for Bigfork and Kayla Caselegno seven.
“Our serving was fantastic,” Bigfork coach Melody Strauss said.
“They served aggressively. Having a game like this today is a big booster for us coming into those final conference games of the season.”
Bigfork has a 7B match today at Thompson Falls.
Kills — St. Ignatius 11 (Kayla Billette 4), Bigfork 17 (Lana Berg 5, Josie Spoklie 4); Blocks — St. Ignatius 3 (Lindsay Johnson, Courtney Charlo, Emilie Charlo), Bigfork 3 (Tessa Robertson 2); Assists — St. Ignatius 8 (Jordyn Eichert 4, Kaylie Durglo 4), Bigfork 15 (Spoklie 9); Digs — St. Ignatius 27 (Johnson 12), Bigfork 18 (Berg 7); Aces — St. Ignatius 6 (Eichert 3), Bigfork 29 (Alanis Stallknecht 10, Kayla Caselegno 7).