The not so good news, it was a tough week for the young Thompson Falls Lady Hawks volleyball team.

The good news: there were some very promising performances and the losses were to two experienced and unbeaten teams, albeit early in the season.

Thursday night the Hawks traveled to Florence for a match with the Florence-Carlton Lady Falcons and T Falls took them to the limit before the Falcons pulled away in the fifth set tie-breaker.

Two nights earlier, T Falls ran into what so far this early in the season looks like a very good Loyola Sacred Heart team, falling to the Breakers 3-0 in Thompson Falls.

Against Florence, the home team jumped ahead early, then held on for a hard-fought 25-18 first set win. Buoyed by their first set victory, Florence went for the quick kill and came away with a 25-15 win and a seemingly convincing 2-0 match lead.

However, the Lady Hawks showed they are not just a young team, they are a team with a lot of talent as they staved off a match sweep with a 25-22 down-to-the-wire win over the Lady Falcons.

And as if to show that was no fluke, T Falls squared the match at 2-2 with a 25-17 fourth set win, setting up a fifth set tie-breaker.

Unfortunately for the Lady Hawks, Florence was able to regroup, shake off the momentum shift and fly off with a 15-7 win and a 3-2 match victory.

A huge bright spot for the Hawks was the 20 assist performance of Olivia Fitchett, who also chipped in four service aces. T Falls also had a match total of 23 kills, including a team high eight by Gabi Hannum, seven from Addi Pardee and six from Sarah Koskela.

Hannum also had a solid all around match, adding seven digs and four service aces to her total effort.

The Thursday night effort was a positive sign for the Lady Hawks, who lost several key players to graduation, after getting swept by early season dynamo Loyola.

The Breakers won the first set 25-10, then took a two-set match lead with a 25-16 set two victory. And despite the daunting deficit Thompson Falls once again showed they would fight to the last point, pushing Loyola to a very hard-fought 25-21 victory in the third and final set of the match.

Hannum and Fitchett continued to impress in the early going, with Hannum recording a team best seven kills, while Fitchett continued her outstanding assist effort, leading the team with 10. Both players had one service ace. Koskela chipped in three kills for the Lady Hawks.

Both Florence and Loyola moved to 2-0 after last week’s play, while T Falls dropped to 0-2.

Next up for T Falls is a match this Thursday at home against Superior, followed by a Saturday trip to Mission for a meeting with the Lady Bulldogs.