Lady spikers lose extra-game thriller to Bigfork

By DAVID ERICKSON / Whitefish Pilot

If the home conference opener for the Whitefish volleyball squad was any indication of what the regular season will be like, get your popcorn ready. Bigfork scraped by Whitefish 25-17, 25-13, 21-25, 17-25, 17-15 in a back-and-forth battle.

The Lady Bulldogs rallied back from a two-game deficit to take the Valkries to a tie-breaking fifth game.

Whitefish and Bigfork exchanged leads in the final game no less than nine times, as both teams gave up game-point after the 11th point three times. With each lead change, the crowd exploded.

Finally, Bigfork broke the deadlock and won the fifth game 17-15.

It was looking ugly for Whitefish after the first two games, as Bigfork dominated both the net and the backcourt. Whitefish couldn't get a handle on the Bigfork serves, and their blocking wasn't effective against Bigfork's kills.

The Lady Bulldogs came alive when they had their backs against the wall, however. McCara Cullen exploded with most of her team-high 13 kills in the next two games, frustrating the Bigfork defense. Whitefish also had eight stuff blocks, with senior Kate Klundt getting four of those.

"I thought our girls held their composure. I saw some true fight in them," head coach Jackie Fuller said. "Give Big-fork all the credit — they have a great program."

The final tie-breaker could easily have gone either way, as the Lady Bulldogs let a couple serves hit the net, and a couple returns were just inches out-of-bounds.

"It's all a momentum thing," Fuller said. "It was a great game for our fans, but we were there a little later than I wanted. I credit our girls for not giving up when things weren't looking so good. If we continue to fight like that, good things will happen."

Whitefish had 37 total kills. Molly Filipek had three of her teams eight service aces. Cullen had 20 of her team's 91 digs. Jade Hansen had 17 of the teams 37 set assists.

The Lady Bulldogs take on Ronan this Saturday at 3 p.m.