Volleyball does well at NW-SW Tip Off Tournament

Columbia Falls Volleyball made a significant impact at the Western A Tip-Off Tournament in Dillon this past weekend, marking the beginning of their season with non-conference action.  

“Overall, our weekend was great.  We only lost three of the 14 sets we played, but because of point differential, we ended up in fourth in our conference.  Just a couple of points separated second place from fourth. We also won our final matchup against Corvallis in two sets,” said head coach Jolandie Brooks.

The Wildkats had an eventful weekend, facing seven different teams over two days. Their first match was against Butte Central on Friday morning.  The Kats easily won the sets with scores of 25-6 and 25-9.  However, the competition got tougher against Dillon, where they managed to split the sets 21-25 to 25-20.  Hamilton and Frenchtown were also strong opponents. Columbia Falls split the sets with Hamilton 25-23 and 22-25, and with Frenchtown 25-24 and 20-25.  The Kats also achieved easy sweeps of Corvallis and Stevensville.  Corvallis was defeated 25-16 and 25-11, and Stevensville won 25-17 and 25-11. 

In the last match of the weekend, they once again beat Corvallis handily, 25-16 and 25-19.

“We used Tip-Off as an opportunity to experiment with a variety of rotations and lineups.  More importantly, though, our goals for the weekend had more to do with our court and team dynamics than the actual outcome. We wanted to be 2% mentally at our “next-ball mentality,” getting over our mistakes quickly, staying positive when we’re down, and continuing to be good teammates and friends on the court.

“Honestly, I think we got about 50% better at that this weekend!” Brooks added.

The Kats will be both on the road and home this week. 

They will be in Frenchtown on Tuesday, prior to press time where they will play the Broncs, and then they will host the Libby Loggers on Saturday with Frosh tip-off time set to begin at 1 p.m.