Lady Miners tame Tigers in East Silver Valley showdown

Photos by CHANSE WATSON/ Wallace seinor Cassie Heiden pops the ball over the net.

Wallace junior Kali Davis jump up to spike the ball.

Mullan sophomore Talowa Fallingwater makes a hard hit over the net.

Mullan senior Sydnie Cote gets ahold of the ball during an intense volley.

by CHANSE WATSON
Hagadone News Network | September 24, 2018 1:05 PM

Wallace junior Kali Davis jump up to spike the ball.

Mullan sophomore Talowa Fallingwater makes a hard hit over the net.

Mullan senior Sydnie Cote gets ahold of the ball during an intense volley.

MULLAN – A strong performance early on by the Mullan Lady Tigers was not enough to take the win last Thursday, as they fell to the visiting Wallace Miners in four sets on home court.

“We started out super sluggish and we had a different line up for our first set,” Wallace coach Anali Spooner said. “So that didn’t help us out. But after the first match, we really got in our groove and picked it up and had some good things happen.”

The first set was the closest of the night and featured some highlight reel moments coming from both teams.

Both the Miners and the Tigers traded the lead several times throughout, but it was Mullan who had that extra push to take the set 27-25.

It turned out though that this tough set loss would be the spark needed to get Wallace back in the game.

With their original lineup back intact, the Lady Miners stormed out in the second set and took a commanding 25-12 win.

The Tigers, who looked a bit flat footed after the first, managed to put up better efforts in the third and fourth sets, but still fell to Wallace in both by a score of 25-17 and 25-15, respectively.

Coach Spooner pointed to the superb play of seniors Maggie Howard and Kynlie Frey as one of the main reasons for the win.

“Maggie Howard was so great. I told her where to put the ball and she listened, and it worked towards our advantage,” she said. “When Kynlie Frey came in she was hitting so well, and we really needed her kills.”

Even with the tough loss, Mullan Coach Dawn McKinnon was proud of her team’s effort.

“Overall I thought they played great,” she said. “We were certainly overmatched, when you have to start 8th graders (and other lower class age students), it can be a tough situation. We came out and just played hard all the way around.”

The Lady Tigers (1-5, 0-4 NSL) will be back on home their court Tuesday night when they take on Genesis Preparatory School at 5:30 p.m. Two days later, they will host Clark Fork High School also at 5:30 p.m.

Wallace Volleyball’s (5-3, 3-1 NSL) next game will be at home vs. Lakeside High School on Tuesday at 7 p.m.