The Western Conference class B volleyball race is going to be a grind it out matter from the looks of the opening week of conference play.

And despite being 0-2, it appears the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks will be in the thick of things when all is said and done. 

The Lady Hawks opened a two-game week by hosting traditional powerhouse Florence Thursday evening.  The visiting Falcons swept T Falls 3-0 in their first “official” match of the 2024 season. 

Saturday, T Falls journeyed to Missoula to take on another perennial power, Loyola Sacred Heart and battled the Breakers in every set in a 3-0 Loyola sweep. 

A week earlier the Lady Hawks played a grueling schedule in the Choteau Invitational tournament where they placed seventh out of 15 top volleyball schools from around the area. 

“The varsity girls played 12 games over the duration of the two-day event,” said T Falls assistant coach and school AD Madison Wheeler. We placed seventh out of 15 very competitive B/C teams that tend to be state level competitors. It was a great competition to begin the season”. 

The reality of the tough competition was personified with the Lady Falcons, who jumped out to an early set one lead and cruised to a 25-11 win for a 1-0 match lead. 

It was pretty much the same story in the second set, which Florence won 25-10 to go up 2-0 in the match. 

T Falls regrouped prior to the third set but were not able to overcome the tall and athletic Florence team, falling 25-15 and completing the Falcon sweep. 

Maggie Schneiter had 22 assists for the Lady Falcons, while teammate Dia Jenkins added a team high 16 digs. 

Annalise Fairbank had an outstanding match for T Falls, leading the Lady Hawks in assists (5), kills (5) and tied with Gabi Hannum with one block each. 

Hannum had one service ace to lead T Falls, while Olivia Fitchett and Addy Deal had six digs each. 

Saturday afternoon Thompson Falls traveled to Missoula to face the Breakers, who were opening their season. 

The first set was a back-and-forth affair with Loyola coming out with a hard-fought, 25-20 win between two teams who are, despite the score, evenly matched. 

Set two was a repeat of the first set, although the score was tied five times before the Breakers won 25-20 to take a 2-0 match lead. 

In the third and deciding set, Loyola took an early 2-0 lead, then upped it to 16-7 by mid set.  They held on to win 25-19 and wrap up the three-set sweep. 

The Lady Hawks have a two-match week ahead, beginning tonight (Sept 10) when they host Mission High.  They then travel to Superior Thursday (Sept 12) to take on the Lady Bobcats in the second of two conference games.