COLUMBIA FALLS — Columbia Falls opened Northwestern A volleyball play with a 25-17, 27-25, 25-22 triumph over Libby on Thursday.

Haley Belgarde had 14 of Columbia Falls’ 30 kills. Belgarde and Winter Kemppainen both had three blocks.

“Really, we had a great night hitting,” Columbia Falls coach Josie Brown said.

Columbia Falls (1-0 league, 1-2 overall) let a 10-point lead slip away in the second set, but held on to win. In the third set, the Wildkats rallied from eight back to win.

“They’re a battling a team,” Brown said.

“They don’t give up. That’s a great thing.”

Devon Gallagher had nine kills and three blocks for Libby.

Kills — Libby 33 (Devon Gallagher 9), Columbia Falls 30 (Haley Belgarde 14, Carla Nicosia 8); Blocks — Libby 6 (Gallagher 3), Columbia Falls 6 (Belgarde 3, Winter Kemppainen 3); Assists — Libby 30 (Hannah England 29), Columbia Falls 24 (Taylir Fairbank 13, Cydney Finberg 10); Digs — Libby 49 (Nahalah Wedel 18), Columbia Falls 40 (Kemppainen 11); Aces — Libby 5 (NA), Columbia Falls 9 (Finberg 4, Tiffany Hummer 4).

Frenchtown def. Polson 3-0

FRENCHTOWN — Vanessa Stavish had nine kills and two blocks and Haley Cyr finished with two blocks, 12 assists and two aces to power Frenchtown past Polson in Northwestern A play.

The scores: 25-17, 25-19, 25-22.

Chloie Huerta had 11 kills and two aces and Jaiden Toth collected 18 digs, 21 assists and two aces for Polson.

Kills – Polson 21 (Chloie Huerta 11), Frenchtown 27 (Vanessa Stavish 9 Jadan Ross 8). Blocks – Polson 6, Frenchtown 5 (Stavish, Haley Cyr 2). Digs – Polson 70 (Jaiden Toth 18), Frenchtown 63 (Morgan Ray 15). Assists – Polson 21 (Toth 21), Frenchtown 25 (Josie Anderson 13, Cyr 12). Aces – Polson 8 (Toth, Huerta 2), Frenchtown 9 (Ray, Cyr, Anderson 2).

Eureka def. Bigfork, 3-2

EUREKA — Elliott Peterson had 18 kills and five blocks, Evynn Anderson 15 digs and Hannah Price 10 aces to help Eureka open District 7B play with a thrilling victory over Bigfork.

The scores: 25-20, 25-18, 17-25, 22-25, 15-10.

“A great effort by an inexperienced, young team,” Eureka coach Charli Chapman said.

“They played defense very well. A big conference win for us.”

Regarding the 10 aces by Price ... “she was on,” Chapman said.

“One of my seniors. We have no returning starters.”

The other statistical leader for Eureka (1-0 and 1-2) was Courtney Lemer with 13 assists.

Marissa Hiza led Bigfork (0-1 and 1-3) in kills (13) and digs (16).

Alanis Stallknecht had 15 digs for Bigfork.

Kills — Bigfork 35 (Marissa Hiza 9), Eureka 41 (Elliott Peterson 18); Blocks — Bigfork 5 (Tessa Robertson 3), Eureka 14 (Peterson 5); Digs — Bigfork 59 (Hiza 16, Alanis Stallknecht 15), Eureka 27 (Evynn Anderson 15); Assists — Bigfork 26 (Josie Spoklie 26), Eureka 30 (Courtney Lemer 13, Charity Parsons 13); Aces — Bigfork 12 (Kalia Wickland 5), Eureka 19 (Hannah Price 10)