Part of competing for a championship, coaches will tell you, is you need to win the games you are expected to win.

Doesn’t always work out that way, but that’s exactly what the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks volleyball team did this past week.

Thursday they swept winless Arlee 3-0 in Thompson Falls, then hit the road and also swept 3-4 Darby, 3-0.

In recording the sweeps, the Lady Hawks improved their conference record to 3-0 and their season mark to 5-3.

They began the six straight set wins with the win over Arlee, which came to T Falls with an 0-6 mark on the year.

Thompson falls jumped out to a 1-0 match lead with a comfortable 25-12 win over the Scarlets. They completed the sweep with a 25-11 second set win and a 25-12 third set win.

Gabi Hannum paced the T Falls attack against Arlee, racing up a match-high 13 assists. She also had two service aces, five kills and one block in helping the Lady Hawks dominate play at the net.

Teammate Annalise Fairbank led the Hawks in kills with seven, while also recording two aces and four assists. Sarah Kosela chipped in six kills and three digs, while Addi Pardee has five digs for T Falls.

Two days later in Darby, Thompson Falls got off to another strong start, taking the opening set 25-8. They followed that win with a 25-17 second set victory, then completed the sweep by taking the third set 25-19.

Against the Lady Tigers, Hannum and Koskela each had seven kills, while Hannum also had a team best four blocks and Koskela added two digs. Fairbank led the Hawks with eight assists, while Hannum had seven.

Next up for Thompson Falls is a home match tonight (Tuesday) versus Eureka, followed by a Thursday road trip to Troy to face the Lady Trojans.