Happiness is… playing volleyball!

At least that’s what the Thompson Falls Lady Hawks seem to think.

“These girls are loving it, every bit of the season. The practices, the games, everything,” coach Sandra Kazmierczk said. “I am excited to see how we compete these next few weeks.”

The regular season ends this week with two District 7B matches for the Hawks, first at home versus Troy Thursday night for senior night in Thompson Falls, and then on the road again for a season-ending regular season match at Eureka, likely for the Lady Lions’ senior night.

Without a District 7B tournament this season, the Hawks will then play in the Western B divisional tournament in St. Ignatius beginning November 6.

In a pair of exciting road matches last week, the Lady Hawks dropped a tough five-set match to Stillwater Christian in a late-night net fight in Kalispell Monday, and came back to top the Trotters 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-23 in Plains Tuesday.

“Those were both very good matches against good teams,” Kazmierczak said. “Stillwater Christian is a great program to play against, we always have good matches with them, and Plains always seems to play well against us.”

Kazmierczak said the C squad, junior varsity and varsity matches all went five sets in Kalispell with the C and JV Hawks winning. All that volleyball produced a late night ride home for the Falls girls, who did not arrive in the TFHS parking lot until after midnight early Tuesday morning.

Experimenting successfully with a new attack the past few weeks, the Hawks had a balanced effort from all over the floor in Kalispell. Gabi Hannum led the Hawks against the Cougars with 20 kills, an impressive eight stuff blocks, and 11 set assists, Addy Deal was good for 13 Ks, six stuff blocks and 14 more set assists, Addi Pardee six kills, 12 digs and a block, Annalise Fairbank six kills and a block, Emma Claridge a kill and three stuff blocks, Cora Anderson four stuff blocks and Audrey Fairbank five digs.

Deal and Pardee each hit two aces against Stillwater and everyone else in the lineup one apiece.

In the hard-fought win over Plains, Hannum executed 14 kills, hit five set assists and smacked four service aces, Deal hit 8 Ks, blocked three shots and passed out 14 set assists, Pardee added four kills, 12 digs and two aces, Anderson two stuff blocks and two set assists, Claridge 10 digs and an ace, and Annalise Fairbank a kill, a stuff block and an ace.

    LADY HAWK SENIOR Addi Pardee goes for a shot as Plains’ Claire Lakko looks to block it. Hawks won the match in Plains Tuesday in four sets. (John Hamilton/vp-mi)