Mission shakes off Arlee gymnasium mystique with 3-1

victory 

ARLEE - Thunder and lightning outside rumbled the floor of the Arlee gym and provided a fitting backdrop for a place that Mission volleyball head coach Kendal Anderson considered cursed since her Lady Bulldogs had lost there in close matches the previous two years.

While no voodoo dolls or exorcisms were needed, the curse reversed as Mission (4-3 conf., 10-4 ovr.) was able to defeat Arlee (8-0 conf., 8-2 ovr.) 3-1 last Thursday night, 22-25, 25-18, 25-10, 25-7.

"It was a big deal for the girls to come out and beat them," Anderson said.

Junior Ashley Courville had five service aces for the Lady Bulldogs and senior Adessa Durglo led the attack with 14 kills. Arlee was superb defensively with junior Becca Nelson collecting 32 digs, junior Courtney Dix also had five aces.

"There's a lot of internal stuff we're working on," Arlee head coach Brian Big Sam said. "They need to keep their composure out on the court. It affected their game."

Arlee looked good in the first game, overcoming a late 22-21 Mission lead en route to the 25-22 win. However, they would lose the next three and fall to the Lady Bulldogs.

"We had a good talk after the game," Big Sam said.

The Scarlets shook off the Mission loss and got down to business against Noxon on Saturday, winning 3-0 on scores of 25-18, 25-22, 25-17.

"I'm happy with our little talk," Big Sam said.

Nelson had eight kills and senior Cassandra Kline had 25 digs in the match.

Arlee will now turn their attention to a rematch with conference foe Charlo tonight.

"This is a huge one," Big Sam said. "We were the first loss for Charlo in a year. We want to remain in first place."

Mission was involved in conference battles last week, falling just short against Bigfork, 3-1, on Tuesday and Eureka, 3-2, on Saturday.

Against Bigfork, Mission lost 25-22, 25-23, before winning 20-25 and then dropping the fourth game 25-19.

"They played really well on paper, we have one more kill, one more dig, one more ace than them," Anderson.

Mission won the first two games won the first two games against Eureka, 25-23, 26-24, only to lose the next three, 22-25, 16-25 and 13-15.

"We stopped talking and we stopped communicating," Anderson said.

After playing Ronan on Tuesday, the Lady Bulldogs will round out the regular season with three straight conference matchups before heading into Districts at Thompson Falls.