By BRANDON HANSEN

Hungry Horse News 

It was a close battle, but then again, would you expect anything else from a Cat-Dog matchup.

The Northwest A Conference-leading Whitefish held on to its first-place standing with a five-set 25-16, 18-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-6 victory on Tuesday, October 29.

Mylie Ridgeway led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with 19 kills, while her teammate Isabella Hartwig with 17 kills.

The Wildkats weren’t far behind in offense, as Rylee Sweeney notched 12 kills and seven blocks at the net. Meanwhile, on the backline, Emalee Alton had 20 digs along with nine kills on offense.

As a team, Whitefish had 58 kills to Columbia Falls’ 44. At the service stripe, Alton had three of Columbia Falls’ five aces, while Allie Shors had three of Whitefish’s six aces.

The net was where Columbia Falls’ shined, posting 12 blocks. Isabella Hartwig had four of Whitefish’s five blocks. Jezanie Brooks dished out 22 assists for the Wildkats, while Shors had 28 of Whitefish’s 56 assists.

Whitefish finished the regular season 11-3 and 10-2 in the conference, edging out Polson for first due to tiebreakers. Columbia Falls is 7-6 overall and 6-5 in conference play.

The teams now face off in Frenchtown for the divisional tourney this weekend.