The Harlem Lady Cats had a good week on the court, going 2-1 in match play to start the season. On Thursday the girls were in Wolf Point to take on the Wolves in their District 2B Conference opener. Harlem had their chances , but fell in straight sets, 3-0. Saturday the Lady Cats made their home debut, playing a double header against the Saint Labre Indian Catholic Braves. Harlem swept both matches 25-13, 25-6, 25-12 and 25-11, 25-10, 25-15.

In Wolf Point the Lady Cats never could get over the hump in facing the Wolves. Harlem led in the first set early on before letting it slip away late in a tough 25-22 first set loss.

In set number two it was more of the same. Harlem took a two point lead midway through the set 13-11 but following a Wolf Point timeout they were never able to regain their momentum, falling 25-17. The third set was a mirror image of set number two. The Lady Cats led 12-11 and 14-12 before the Wolves strung together a rally to take the set 25-20 and the match 3-0.

Saturday, playing in front of their home town fans for the first time this season, the girls were energized and took it to St. Labre right from the opening tip. In set number one, the Lady Cats jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead following a pair of Aces from senior Jessica King. The two teams exchange points for the next few serves until Harlem began to find its groove.

Another Ace from King and a trio of Aces from junior Emma Billmayer extended the lead to 19-10. Senior Ma'Lea Moore slammed home a big kill down the middle to double up the visitors 24-20. A St. Labre hitting error secured a 25-13 opening set win.

Set number two was all Harlem as St. Labre never gained any traction at all. The Lady Cats scored the first seven points of the set to take a commanding early lead. A pair of Rider Aces pushed the advantage to 13-2 soon after.

Sophomore Raelynne Briere then stepped to the serving line and ignited a 10 point Lady Cat rally that included four Aces to grow the lead to 24-4. St. Labre then served the ball out of bounds to provide the final point of a second set 25-6 Lady Cat win.

Set number three of the first match was another lopsided affair for the Lady Cats. Harlem got the ball rolling early with an ace from sophomore Aaraya Mount and a big Kill from King to open up a early 5-1 advantage.

Billmayer helped the Lady Cats extend their advantage to 17-10 with a pair of Aces as well of a couple of Kills mixed in. Moore slammed home another Kill as Harlem continue to comfortably execute their offense. Following an Ace from Rider that doubled up the Braves 22-11 an unusual occurrence happened, a St. Labre player dug up the Wildcat attack sending it straight into the rafters, where it would stay. The ball never did come down and the point was awarded to the Lady Cats.

Harlem closed out the third set with a 25-12 win to earn a 3-0 sweep in match number one. The Lady Cats, having already proven their dominance face little resistance in Match 2, again sweeping the Braves.

The Lady Cats followed the same game plan, that essentially consisted of serve the ball over the net and hope that St. Labre could return it. If the Lady Cat offense had one issue, it was being unable to work on things due to the Braves inability to return serve. Harlem easily won match number two with set scores of 25-11, 25-10 and 25-15.

Head Coach Kim Faulkinberry reflected on her teams matches for the week, "It was really hard to play high tempo when they (St. Labre) struggled to return anything we gave to them. It did give us a chance to try some new things in competition though." Faulkinberry is confident about her teams chances the next time they see the Wolves, "Against Wolf Point we would go up and just couldn't keep command of the set. We let them go on a few runs and we just couldn't go on some runs of our own. As a whole I was not upset with the way we played. It was a fun match. We don't play them again until almost the end of the season."