The first of the new Western 13C conference district volleyball tournaments have come and gone for the St. Regis Lady Tigers who faced a gauntlet of the league’s best teams after beating conference rival Hot Springs in a Wednesday play-in match.

The tournament, which was the first for the combined Western 13C and 14C conference featured all 12 conference schools, with eight teams playing a day earlier than the rest of the field for the right to be in the first round of the event, which was held at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo this past weekend. 

The Lady Tigers won the play-in match versus Hot Springs 3-1, sending them to a first-round encounter with regular season champion and number one seed Philipsburg (Granite County).  The Lady Prospectors won that first round match 3-1 after pulling out a tough 25-21 first set victory on a kill shot by Philipsburg. 

After being behind briefly in the opening minutes of the second set, Philipsburg tied the score at 13-13, then slowly expanded their lead on the way to a 25-17 win and a 2-0 match lead. 

In the third set, Philipsburg roared out to a 12-0 lead, then cruised to a 25-14 set win that clinched a 3-0 sweep for the top-seed. In the match versus Philipsburg, Lily Sansom had an outstanding match, leading the team in kill shots with 13 and blocked shots with nine. 

The Lady Tigers piled up 91 digs during the match, including 33 by Shelby Simkins.  Khila Teeters led St. Regis with six service aces. 

From the match versus Philipsburg St. Regis took on Valley Christian in a loser-out match that was a hard-fought match from start to finish. 

The Lady Tigers won the first set of that match 26-24 to assume a 1-0 match lead.  But Valley Christian bounced back in the second set for a 25-16 win that tied the match at one set each. 

A blocked shot by VC gave the Lady Eagles a 25-17 win in the third set, along with a 2-1 match advantage. 

In the fourth set, Valley Christian pulled away from a 6-6 tie and steadily built a lead that reached 18-10 at the midway point.  The Lady Eagles then held off a late St. Regis charge to clinch the fourth set 25-17 and sew up a 3-1 match victory that ended the Lady Tigers season. St. Regis finished the season with a 6-10-1 overall record.