COLUMBIA FALLS — The Columbia Falls Wildkats used timely runs and a big block to sweep Whitefish 25-16, 25-23, 25-18 in a Northwestern A volleyball match Saturday at Columbia Falls High School.

The match broke a tie for second place in the Northwestern A conference. Frenchtown, which beat the Wildkats in three sets on Thursday, leads Columbia Falls (3-3 overall, 2-1 conference) by 1.5 games and Whitefish is 2.5 games back.

“I’m actually really thrilled with how well the girls played,” Columbia Falls coach Josie Brown said. “They’re young, we only have two seniors, and they were able to come together and they know how to hold onto a run and a lead.”

Whitefish (2-4, 1-2) led in the early stages of the third set but Columbia Falls clawed back to knot the score at 11. Three more ties ensued before the Wildkats won eight of the final nine points to close out the match. Columbia Falls’ Morgan Stenger and Winter Kemppainen sparked the run with back-to-back blocks. Kemppainen added a kill to put Columbia Falls ahead 21-17, then a Whitefish hitting error, an ace by Ciera Finberg and another Kemppainen block brought up match point. The Bulldogs fought off the first match point before a service error ended the match.

“I think we made a lot of errors that we normally don’t,” Whitefish coach Sarah Scott said before crediting Columbia Falls’ blockers with causing problems at the net. “They definitely have one of the most consistent blocks that we’ve played against.”

Kemppainen totaled six of the Wildkats’ seven blocks while Stenger, a 6-foot freshman, had the other.

“We have some really strong freshman and we’ve been working on blocking a ton,” Kemppainen said. “It’s proving to help us a lot.”

Outside hitter Haley Belgarde had 12 of Columbia Falls’ 32 kills, including a spike that ended the second set.

“We came together, and when we come together we’re just a really strong team,” Belgarde said.

“We hit the ball very well. Whitefish is a good team, but I think we used our intensity and utilized all of our players.”

Most of Whitefish’s offense flowed through Marlow Schulz, who had 10 of the Bulldogs’ 28 kills. She also posted a team-high 15 digs and tied teammate Bekah Weaver with two aces.

“I watched her warm up and saw where she was hitting, so I tried to focus on trying to take care of her,” Kemppainen said of Schulz.

Whitefish had an early lead in the first set but Columbia Falls took control with a 5-0 run that gave the Wildkats a 14-11 lead. Schulz broke up the run with a kill from the left side, but Columbia Falls answered by winning four of the next five points to extend its lead to 17-12. Whitefish cut its deficit to two before the Wildkats reeled off seven consecutive points on Cydney Finberg’s serve to clinch the set.

Whitefish also led early in the second set, but Columbia Falls battled back and used a pair of kills by Belgarde to close it out.

Columbia Falls hosts Polson on Tuesday while Whitefish hosts Libby on Thursday.

Kills - Whitefish 28 (Marlow Schulz 10), Columbia Falls 32 (Haley Belgarde 12). Assists - Whitefish 26 (Allie Schulz 13), Columbia Falls 22 (Cydney Finberg 11). Aces - Whitefish 6 (M. Schulz 2, Bekah Weaver 2), Columbia Falls 6 (Taylir Fairbank 3). Blocks - Whitefish 4 (Rachael Seymour 3), Columbia Falls 7 (Winter Kemppainen 6). Digs - Whitefish 50 (M. Schulz 15), Columbia Falls 48 (Shaylene Fishel 12).