It was a hard fought week of volleyball for the young and improving Hot Springs volleyball team.

Thursday they traveled to Alberton and took on an even younger and equally, steadily improving Lady Panthers team and came away with a hard earned 3-1 win.

Saturday evening they hosted a tall and athletic Charlo team and fell to the Lady Vikings 3-1.

It was a total of eight mostly long, physically demanding sets for the Lady Savage Heat.

They began their week against Alberton, which earlier this young season knocked off St. Regis in Alberton. The Lady Panthers took control of the first set against Hot Springs and cruised to a 25-15 win and a 1-0 match lead.

Clearly, the Lady Panthers are significantly improved from their first year of varsity volleyball they played last season. But the Lady Heat are also a young, scrappy team and they bounced back from the first set loss and eked out a 25-22 win in the second set, tying the match at one set each.

From that point on, the Lady Heat built early set leads and fended off Alberton rallies to win the third set 25-12 and clinch the match with a fourth set 25-13 win.

That gave Hot Springs some momentum going into their home match Saturday versus Charlo and the two teams played one of the hardest fought games of the season, despite the implications of a 3-1 Charlo match victory.

Both teams battled to nine ties in the first set, which was won by Charlo 25-23 after being tied at 23. Another raucous crowd with fans from both towns roared their approval to the hustle on the court.

If the crowd liked the first set, they loved set number two, which Hot Springs won 27-25. The Lady Heat had jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead, but Charlo came back to tie it up at 11. That set was also tied nine times, including at 23, 24 and 25 before a Charlo return blocked by Lauryn Aldridge allowed Hot Springs to get they edge they needed to win the set and tie the match at 1-1.

Set three was another nail biter, featuring numerous ties and lead changes before Charlo pulled out a 25-23 win.

Hot Springs took a brief early lead in the fourth set, but the Lady Vikings tied the set at eight, then built a six point lead that held up despite a furious late rally by Hot Springs which ended when six foot sophomore Leah Cahoon slammed a kill shot that secured the set for Charlo by a 25-19 count, giving them a 3-1 match victory.

Aldridge led Hot Springs with eight kills, three blocks and eight digs, while teammate Kara Christensen chipped in three service aces, six kills, three blocks and eight digs. Brooke Jackson led the Heat with 15 assists and had seven digs.

Charlo’s Karly Alder had a match-high 17 assists for the Lady Vikings, while Aida Cote had 13 kills and two blocks. The Lady Vikings also got a match-best 21 digs.

The Lady Heat play again tonight (Tuesday, Sept 19) at home against Arlee, then take to their home court again for a Homecoming match versus Two Eagle River.