C-Falls dumps Libby

COLUMBIA FALLS — Carla Nicosia is hardly the tallest hitter on the Columbia Falls Wildkats volleyball team. In fact, with three players listed at or above six feet, Nicosia is the fifth tallest on the team, standing at 5-9.

That didn’t stop her from earning a game-high 10 kills to lead the Wildkats to a three-set sweep of the Libby Loggers in Northwest A action on Thursday night.

“She’s amazing,” Wildkats head coach Josie Brown said.

“She goes after every ball. She wants it. She’s extremely aggressive and very competitive. She sees a hole on the court and puts it in that hole. It’s nice to have her on the outside.”

Nicosia ended a short three-point rally from Libby — highlighted by back-to-back aces from outside-hitter Dayln Germany — with an emphatic spike, assisted by sophomore setter Cydney Finberg.

The Wildkats went on to win the first set, 25-19 — they trailed once after the opening point by Libby.

The second set was a different story with a similar result.

Libby fell behind early, facing a 7-2 deficit, before the Wildkats committed four consecutive unforced errors.

After a kill from senior Hailley Moe, the Loggers tied the set at nine and Columbia Falls called a timeout to thwart the Loggers momentum.

The teams battled to a tie at 19, but several Logger errors gave the Wildkats an advantage and Finberg set up Nicosia for the set-winning kill to finish 25-20.

“We played pretty well,” Nicosia said.

“There were some mistakes, but we picked it up. (Cydney) is such a great setter and she’s young so she is only going to get better. I thought we played pretty good overall.”

Columbia Falls rode its momentum into the final set of the night and got a little help from the Loggers.

Libby committed 11 unforced errors in the third set, and after another Nicosia kill gave the Wildkats a 12-8 lead, the Loggers couldn’t cut the deficit the rest of the contest, dropping the final set 25-19.

“We made a lot of unforced errors,” Libby coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnston said.

“I thought we played really uptight, but I was proud of the girls for playing hard. We played hard and didn’t give up when we were down. Credit to Columbia Falls. They were solid and played well offensively.”

Moe led the Loggers with eight kills while senior setter Hannah England tallied 25 assists.

Finberg finished with 22 assist and her sister, senior middle-hitter Ciera Finberg, had a game-high four aces. Ciera Finberg and Kemppainen finished with a team-high three blocks each while senior libero Shay Fishel had six digs to lead the Wildkats defensively

“I think we came out pretty strong. The girls were pretty fired up for our first home game,” Brown said.

“We had been working on swinging at the net and being aggressive and they definitely did that tonight. Defense is an area we’ve been working on too, our serve-receive, and we benefited from that tonight.”

Columbia Falls def.

Libby, 3-0

25-19, 25-20, 25-19

Kills — Libby 30 (Hailley Moe 8), Columbia Falls 27 (Carla Nicosia 10). Blocks — Libby 2 (Moe 2), Columbia Falls 8 (Ciera Finberg 3, Winter Kemppainen 3). Digs — Libby 19 (Mahalah Wedel 10), Columbia Falls 26 (Shay Fishel 6). Assists — Libby 27 (Hannah England 25), Columbia Falls 23 (Cydney Finberg 22). Aces — Libby 7 (England 2), Columbia Falls 7 (Ci. Finberg 4).