SEELEY LAKE – The Lady Savage Heat came up short to the Blackhawks of Seeley Lake-Swan 23-25, 27-25, 14-25, 25-16, 15-9 in a five set thriller.

Hot Springs falls to 7-6 on the season following the loss. Lady Savage Heat could not combat the play of Shelby Holmes for the Blackhawks. Holmes was the team leader in both kills and assists.

Alex Green had 11 of the 41 kills for the Lady Savage Heat. Her play at the net has been superior all season long and has provided much needed scoring for Hot Springs.

Josey Carr led Hot Springs with 14 of the 29 assists on the evening as well as added three of Lady Savage Heat’s five blocks.

The Lady Savage defense was able to defend the ball well, but not well enough for the win. Hot Springs recorded 51 digs on the evening. Meara Schmiedbaur led the team with 15 of those digs. Her defensive presence helped the Lady Savage Heat win two out of the five sets.

For as well as Meara played on defense, her sister Laurel did on offense. She added five of Hot Spring’s 16 aces.

Once again the Lady Savage Heat played an up and down match. The team has been struggling with consistency of late and Coach Alisha Pablo had emphasized it over the past few weeks.

Having played one of the three games over the next week, the ladies will be busy on the court. Results of Tuesday’s game with Plains were unavailable at time of press.

The increased game time gives the Lady Savage Heat limited practice time but lots of experience as district play is right around the corner.

Hot Springs needs to continue to hit the ball hard and set up their offense if they hope to be successful against Charlo on Thursday and Arlee on Saturday.

Saturday also marks senior night for the Lady Savage Heat. Five of Pablo’s varsity players will be honored before the Arlee game as part of the senior night festivities. Coach Pablo could not be reached for comment on this week’s games.