District 7B announced the selections

for this year’s All-conference and All-state teams this week, and

Bigfork had four girls make the cut, including one who received top

honors.

Senior Melissa VanDerveer not only made

the first-team All-conference list, but she was also named to the

All-state team.

“She was selected because she was a

strong player,” said Bigfork head volleyball coach Tracy Wicklund.

“The coaches in our conference all selected her as one of the top

four. She really went out and hit hard and she led the team by

going out and getting it done.”

All-conference and All-state selections

are made by the coaches in each respective district at the

conclusion of the regular season, prior to the start of the

postseason tournaments. Each coach gets and opportunity to talk

about his or her top players and after words the coaches vote for

who they think is most deserving of being recognized for their work

on the court.

In addition to VanDerveer’s All-state

recognition, three other Valkyries made the All-conference lists as

well.

Seniors Taylor Peck and Kianna Wicklund

were both named second-team All-conference. Sophomore Tessa

Robertson received and honorable mention.

“I was really pleased with how our

girls fared with the conference selections,” Wicklund said. “I got

pretty much everything I wanted. I think we did a good job of

picking our team. We had a strong conference anyway, so we were all

pretty evenly matched.”