The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

The Lady Cats were busy this week as they took on the North Country Mavericks on Tuesday at home and then hosted District 2B rival Malta on Thursday. Saturday the Lady Cats made the trip east to take on District 2B powerhouse Wolf Point.

This past Tuesday the Lady Cats were primed for a strong showing against the North Country Mavericks at home. An Ace from senior Kaitlyn Johnson put Harlem up 4-2 early in the first set. The Lady Cats continued to play well, leading 8-6 and 11-10.

A rally by the Maverick saw the visitors take a 15-12 lead and a Harlem timeout. Back to back aces from senior Savannah Jones saw the Lady Cats cut the lead to 22-19, but it was too little too late as the Mavericks secured a 25-21 first set win.

In set number two an ace from Jones gave the Lady Cats a 7-6 lead. Moments later a kill from junior Aaraya Mount evened the score at 8-8. Mount scored again on a lob over the defense and followed with an ace to give Harlem a 10-9 lead.

A kill from senior Emma Billmayer put the Lady Cats up 14-11. Once again, the Mavericks found their attack and took an 18-17 lead and a timeout from Harlem Head Coach, Kim Faulkinberry. An ace from Johnson evened the score at 18-18, but once again the Mavericks would finish strong and earn a 25-17 set win to go up 2-0 in the match.

Looking to extend the match, the Lady Cats needed to get off to another good start. A kill from Billmayer kept the Lady Cats close, trailing just 11-9. North Country would take an 18-11 lead en route to a 25-17 third set win to complete the sweep.

Thursday Harlem was at home to take on District 2B rival Malta. A kill from Mount and a big block from Johnson had Harlem up 14-11 midway through the opening set. Jones set Mount for another kill 22-16 Harlem lead, paving the way for a 25-20 opening set win by the Lady Cats.

Set number two was an entirely different story as Malta cruised to a 25-11 set win to even the match at one set apiece. The Lady Cats came out swinging in set number three. A kill from Billmayer gave Harlem a 14-11 lead. Another kill from Billmayer put the Lady Cats up 19-18 but it would be the M-ettes that earned a 25-23 set win to go up two sets to one.

The Lady Cats showed a ton of heart in set four with an ace from freshman Ali Doyle giving the Lady Cats a 16-9 lead. Harlem would take a 21-13 lead before Malta trimmed the lead to 21-17 leading to a Harlem time out. Back to back aces from Mount and a great effort to keep the ball alive led to a Billmayer kill and a 25-18 fourth set win to even the match at 2-2. In the fifth and deciding set the Lady Cats never got their footing falling 15-5 giving Malta a 3-2 match win.

Saturday in Wolf Point the Lady Cats faced off against the District 2B leading Wolves. Harlem once again gave their all but it would be the Wolves that would win the match in three sets, 25-22, 25-17, 25-21.

Callie Adams makes a nice pass to her setter during this weekends action.

Faulkinberry summed up her team's week on the court by saying, "This was a hectic week. We played well against a tough North Country team. We had some great blocks and hitting efforts. Malta was a match we should have won. Our serve receive broke down a bit in that fifth set. We can't let anybody serve nine straight serves."

Faulkinberry added, "We didn't serve as well against Wolf Point as we did against Malta. We were competitive in all three matches this week, probably the best three matches that we have played all season."

"We may not have picked up wins, but we know that we can compete well against some tough teams. We just need to be consistent in all phases of the game at the same time. We travel to Rocky Boy on Monday then host Poplar on Saturday to finish the regular season, concluded Faulkinberry.