Two in a row for Wildkats
COLUMBIA FALLS - With everyone doing their jobs, the job got done.
Behind the hitting of Brooke Cady and Kayla DeWit, the Columbia Falls Wildkats completed a season sweep of visiting Ronan, 25-13, 25-19, 25-12 on Saturday night.
It was the second straight win for the Wildkats - they beat Frenchtown in five games last Saturday - and the first of the season at home.
Cady led the Wildkats in both kills and digs - with 13 of each. DeWit had 10 kills and served six aces.
"It's fun to finally win. Two wins in a row is nice," Cady said.
"We tried to carry that (winning) feeling over after our win in Frenchtown," said Columbia Falls coach Addy Hines.
"They play like that in practice, so I know they are capable of doing it," Hines smiled.
"We definitely did a lot better on serve receive and our digs, too. Everyone was getting lots of digs. So many people stepped up. Our serve receive was 100 times better," Cady said.
"I think we passed way better and we were putting the ball down. We had very few hitting errors or serving errors," she added.
"Hitting-wise, our sets were very, very on. I'm not going to take all the credit for my hits because those sets were beautiful. I definitely was hitting hard, but I couldn't have done it without the passes and the sets," Cady said.
The Wildkats started out strong - they led by as many as 12 points. Cady had eight of her kills in the first game and DeWit had four.
"They had a lot going on. I had a bunch of girls doing SATs this morning, it's homecoming week ... it was good to see them come out ready to go tonight," Hines said.
The second game was a slightly different story.
Ronan took an early 8-4 lead - and fought every step of the way.
Columbia Falls surged ahead at 15-11, but the Maidens rallied within a point at 15-14. Two Ronan hits that landed wide and a block by Wildkat Mikaela Fisher were enough, though to give Columbia Falls enough to squeeze by in that game.
"We started tough. The second game was little rough, which it always is for us," Cady said.
"But after that, I just think we passed way better and we had very few hitting errors and serving errors."
The improved passing Hines attributes to a new program the Wildkats started in recent weeks. Once a week, the varsity coaches the underclassmen.
"That just helps a lot. They have to break it down mentally for themselves and put it into what they're doing. It helps them. You learn a lot when you coach," Hines said.
"We've been talking about practicing with a purpose. We had five days of practice this week. It makes a difference when you get to work on all those little things. Some weeks you run out of time. We worked on rotations, hitter coverage and base defense, all those little things that seem to trip us up," she said.
"We practiced hard all week. Everybody pushed themselves and it showed up in this game," Cady agreed.
Other leaders for Columbia Falls were Cassidee Skiles with 32 assists and Danielle Gilley with 10 digs.
Ronan was led by Alice VanGunten with five kills, Taylor Lynch with 11 assists and Chelsea Bourdon with 10 digs.
"All-around, everybody did a good job," Hines said.
"Our passers were getting the ball where it needed to go and Cassidee (Skiles) was doing a good job setting it up.
"I'm pleased with everyone's performance tonight. I'm proud of them," Hines said.
Kills: Ronan 17 (Alice VanGunten 5), Columbia Falls 32 (Brooke Cady 13, Kayla DeWit 10), Assists: Ronan 17 (Taylor Lynch 11), Columbia Falls 32 (Cassidee Skiles 32), Blocks: Ronan 3 (Tailyr Irvine 2), Columbia Falls 4 (No leader), Digs: Ronan 23 (Chelsea Bourdon 10), Columbia Falls 56 (Cady 13, Danielle Gilley 10), Aces: Ronan 1 (Lyndsie Conklin ), Columbia Falls 12 (DeWit 6).