Bulldogs serve up win over Wildkats
By GREG SCHINDLER
The Daily Inter Lake
WHITEFISH - Courtney Ferda had five aces, seven kills and two blocks as the Whitefish High School volleyball team beat Columbia Falls 25-15, 25-7, 25-9 in a Northwestern A match on Saturday.
Following its loss at Libby on Thursday, Whitefish (3-1) took early leads in each game and never let the Wildkats mount a serious comeback.
"We served very well tonight and by doing that we were able to keep them out of their offense," said Whitefish coach Jackie Fuller.
Fuller said Ferda and Hailey Farmin served especially well.
"Courtney Ferda sat back there and just ripped off a lot of points right from the beginning, which was good," Fuller said.
Ferda said losing their first conference match to Libby forced the Bulldogs to reexamine their practice habits and attention to fundamentals.
"We came into the gym (Friday) and just worked on stuff we hadn't done well in the game and it worked to perfection," Ferda said.
The Bulldogs totaled 12 aces, 34 kills, 33 assists, four blocks and 39 digs.
Ashley Ferda was a force for Whitefish with 18 kills and 15 digs while Kali Schmidt had 27 assists. Kellie Kalbfleisch had three aces, Kirsten Blackburn had five assists with seven digs and Brielle Menegazzi added two blocks.
Columbia Falls played its best volleyball in the first game, tying the game at 7-7 and later drawing within 20-15 before Whitefish pulled away. Callie Spencer led the Wildkats (1-3) with five kills while Sarah Marcille had 11 assists and seven digs, but it wasn't nearly enough.
"They just took our game away from us," said Columbia Falls coach Addy Hines. "They weren't doing anything special, we just weren't playing."
The Wildkats had just two aces despite serving more than 20 aces in some previous matches. Hines said the Wildkats' problems weren't physical.
"It's just mental for them," Hines said. "They're not believing in themselves, so we've got to do a lot more team building."
Columbia Falls plays Polson at home on Thursday at 7 p.m., but Hines said the Wildkats have plenty to work on before then.
"Just work on the basics," Hines said. "We weren't passing tonight. We can't set and we can't hit if we're not passing."
Whitefish's most dominant stretch came in the second game when the Wildkats took a 3-2 lead and the Bulldogs answered with 10 straight points. Fuller wasn't worried about lingering negativity from losing to a tough Libby team.
"I knew that after that loss these girls would respond in a positive way and that's what they did," Fuller said.
Courtney Ferda said the best part about winning each game by a double-digit margin is that Whitefish's reserves got to play.
"We really like to get everyone in there and give everyone a shot to hit the ball and get some varsity time," she said.
The Bulldogs travel to Bigfork on Thursday to play the Valkyries at 7 p.m.
Stats
Kills - Columbia Falls 13 (Callie Spencer 5, Monica Burns 4), Whitefish 34 (Ashley Ferda 18, Courtney Ferda 7, Libbie Anderson 4). Blocks - Columbia Falls 2, Whitefish 4 (Brielle Menegazzi 2, C. Ferda 2). Assists - Columbia Falls 12 (Sarah Marcille 11), Whitefish 33 (Kali Schmidt 27, Kirsten Blackburn 5). Digs - Columbia Falls 23 (Marcille 7, Cedar Smith 4), Whitefish 39 (A. Ferda 15, Blackburn 7). Aces - Columbia Falls 2 (Monica Burns 1, Sam Ladenburg 1), Whitefish 12 (C. Ferda 5, Kellie Kalbfleisch 3, Schmidt 2, Hailey Farmin 2).