Lady Cats open with Malta at District 2B Tourney

 

October 27, 2021

The Harlem Lady Cats closed out their regular season schedule with a couple of wins. On Thursday the girls took down the Rocky Boy Morning Stars in Straight sets 25-19, 25-22, 25-11. Saturday they earned the season sweep over the Poplar Indians with another straight set win. Scores and stats for Poplar were unavailable at press time.

The Lady Cats honored their senior players and managers prior to the start of Thursday nights game with Rocky Boy. Harlem took an early lead, built it up a bit, and maintained it down the stretch in the first set earning a 25-19 win.

The Morning Stars built some momentum early on set number two but the Lady Cats have gotten pretty good at bouncing back when teams get on a run. By the time the final serve found its way the Lady Cats had won set number two to go up 2-0 in the match.

Looking to complete the sweep the Lady Cats put the pedal to the medal and never let the Morning Stars get started. Harlem jumped out to a commanding lead early on and coasted to a 25-11 third set win.

The Lady Cats were led on the night by senior Chloe Messerly who powered home a team high 9 Kills in the match. Seniors Taya Trottier and Jessica King each contributed three Kills in the win. King also added six Aces, six Assists, two blocks and nine Digs to the Lady Cats attack. Senior Vanice Little played a big roll in the win with four Aces and four Assists of her own.

With the win over Rocky Boy, the Lady Cats looked to close out the regular season and pick up a huge win over the Poplar Indians that would lock up the No. 3 Seed in the District 2B Tournament in Wolf Point this Friday and Saturday. The Lady Cats earned a sweep and finished the regular season 3-5 in the District 2B and 7-10 overall.

Head Coach, Kim Faulkinberry was very pleased with her teams effort the final week of the season, "The past week we beat a scrappy Rocky Boy team 3-0 and a young Poplar team 3-0. We were without a couple of our regular starters against Poplar and still took care of business. Our future looks bright with how our younger girls stepped into roles and competed very well."

Harlem earned the three seed over the Wolf Point Wolves in a tie break. The teams split the regular season matches with each winning on the others home court. Harlem won 3-1 in September while the Wolves won in Harlem 3-2 on October 16. The Lady Cats won five games in the two matches while the Wolves won four giving the Lady Cats the break.

Senior Taya Trottier attacks the Morning Star defense during Harlem's 3-0 win Thursday on Senior night. The Lady Cats play Malta at 11:30 Friday at the District 2B Tournament

The Lady Cats will take on the Malta M-ettes, the District 2B No. 2 Seed at 11:30 Friday morning. The District 2B Tournament will be played in Wolf Point this Friday and Saturday.

Harlem was swept by the Mustangs in both matches this season, but that isn't a real clear indication of how close the matches really were, "We played Malta close in Malta, if we get a few more plays to swing our way, who knows?? If we take care of our business we should be headed to divisionals," said Faulkinberry.

The teams second match in Malta had scores of 20-25, 26-28 and 19-25. Harlem had their chances in all three sets, maybe Friday they will see the ball bounce their way.

The top four teams at the District 2B will advance to the Northern B Divisional in Glasgow, November 4-6. The top two teams at the Northern B will then advance to the Class B State Volleyball Tournament in Bozeman, November 11-13 on the campus of Montana State University.

 
 

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