CLARK FORK — It was a match that came down to the wire, but the Lady Cats prevailed.

After falling down two sets to one, the Clark Fork volleyball team rallied Thursday night in their season opener to top 3A Bonners Ferry 25-21, 21-25, 24-26, 27-25, 15-12.

This is the second straight year Clark Fork has topped the Badgers in a five-set thriller on their home court.

Once the Lady Cats shook off some early jitters, head coach Michelle Valliere said her team found their groove.

“I’m super happy with the girls tonight,” she said. “They went out there pretty nervous, but I felt like halfway through the first game they calmed their nerves a little bit and started playing our game and not being in their heads.”

Sophomore setter Paige Valliere led the team with 25 set assists and 11 digs. Junior Taylor Staley tallied nine kills and six aces and junior Caiya Yanik had four blocks.

“Caiya did a great job blocking,” Michelle said. “Best blocking I’ve seen in Clark Fork in a long time.”

Michelle said the Lady Cats could work on their hitting, but she was proud of their performance.

“They played really good defense,” she said. “Their serve receive was amazing. They hardly had any balls drop on them and Bonners Ferry had some really good servers out there.”

Clark Fork (1-0) hits the road for the first time 6 p.m. Tuesday at Mullan.