ARLEE — The Scarlets faced the tough task of playing without one of their top players in Mahalia Hendren last week, struggling to overcome her loss in a 3-0 loss to Drummond on Thursday but coming back strong with a 3-0 sweep over St. Regis Saturday.

ARLEE — The Scarlets faced the tough task of playing without one of their top players in Mahalia Hendren last week, struggling to overcome her loss in a 3-0 loss to Drummond on Thursday but coming back strong with a 3-0 sweep over St. Regis Saturday.

Hendren sprained her ankle against Charlo on Oct. 6 and her status is still uncertain at this time. However, head coach Brian BigSam said her diagnosis is “not as bad as they thought.”

BigSam said the team had a hard time without her in the lineup in its nonconference match with Drummond on Thursday.

“My girls are still adjusting to having one of the main starters not in,” BigSam said. “And [Hendren] was one of the leaders, so they were just trying to adjust.”

Arlee came out strong in the first set, taking the game to extra points before falling 27-25 to the Trojans.

However, the Scarlets were unable to sustain this level of play in the next two sets and failed to reach double-digit point totals in either, losing 25-9 and 25-7 respectively.

Drummond doubled Arlee’s totals in virtually every category on Thursday, with the biggest discrepancy coming in the kills department, in which the Trojans racked up 33 compared to the Scarlets’ 10.

Violet Pablo paced Arlee in this category with just three on the night. She also led the team in aces, turning in three of the team’s eight for the match.

Whitney Malatare posted team-highs in two categories as well, tallying two blocks and seven digs. Meanwhile, Bailey Rice led the Scarlets in assists with four in the loss.

Arlee was able to turn things around in its next match, pulling off a swift sweep of St. Regis on Saturday, 25-12, 15-10, 25-10.

With the team coming off a string of tough losses BigSam emphasized how important this victory was for the Scarlets.

“It was huge, because it is a confidence booster,” BigSam said. “I know it wasn’t a really, really tough match, but it was still a confidence booster for the girls coming off a five-loss streak.”

Arlee pummeled the Tigers with 31 kills in the match, while holding Drummond to just nine. Alexis Shick accounted for 10 of those for the Scarlets to lead the team.

St. Regis had tough time against Arlee’s servers as well, surrendering 21 aces on the night to the Scarlets. Meanwhile, the Tigers were able to muster just two in the match.

Pablo and Skyla Perry posted seven aces apiece for the Arlee to tie for the team lead.

St. Regis did manage to dominate in blocks, holding a 11-0 advantage over Arlee in the match, but BigSam said this did little to trouble the Scarlets.

Rice turned in a solid defensive performance coming away with a team-high five digs on the night, while Amelia North was the Scarlets’ assists leader for the match with 11.

Arlee (6-8, 5-5) hopes to have Hendren return to the court soon with the district tournament right around the corner, as she will solidify a team that has already shown BigSam a lot to be pleased about in the past few weeks.

“Even though we don’t have Mahalia, they’re coming together,” BigSam said. 

The Scarlets will take on Noxon on Oct. 18 before battling Hot Springs on Oct. 20 for their final match of the regular season.