Three Lady Cats given all-league honors, Kiebert crowned MVP

In order to achieve an undefeated season in the North Star League, the Clark Fork volleyball team needed to have some of the best players.

And the number of Lady Cats on the all-league team for the past season shows they did.

Three Lady Cats were named to the all-league team and senior outside hitter Ellie Kiebert was crowned the league MVP.

For Kiebert, being recognized for her play is something she is used to after being selected to the all-league team her sophomore and junior season. But this year, the MVP award was her’s for the taking and she did everything to show she was worthy of receiving it.

A vocal leader on and off the court for Clark Fork, Kiebert proved to be vital to the team’s success.

“She’s just an all-around really good player,” Clark Fork head coach Michelle Valliere said, “and she’s be fun to have on our team because she’s had a good positive attitude and willingness to make adjustments and changes when the coaches ask her too.”

Michelle said Kiebert’s versatility made her job a lot easier.

“She was able to hit the ball from the right side which worked really well for us the last two years because you don’t see a lot of teams, especially in our league, hitting from that side of the court,” Michelle said, “so to have someone as powerful as her on the right side, it really gave us some other options out on the volleyball court.”

Fellow senior Abbie Anderson was selected to the all-league team. This year, Anderson was asked to take on a bigger role for the Lady Cats and she proved to be plenty capable. Michelle said in the past Anderson was somebody who came in when someone else was struggling and got the job done, but this season she showed she was able to do much more.

“This year she had to step up a little bit more and be an all-around in all the time player which she did a good job at,” Michelle said. “Her serving was great this year, she had a ton of aces and she was probably one of our hardest servers as far as other teams trying to get a ball back up and she did a really good job this year in the front row not just going up and swinging at the ball, but making smart decisions depending on where the set was at.”

Senior libero Aleehia Valliere was also named to the all-league team.

Aleehia has been playing in the back row since sixth grade and her experience showed as she led the team in digs in nearly every match this season.

Michelle said Aleehia stepped up this season and was a great captain.

“She’s great in the back row and was a huge motivator,” Michelle said. “She’s about the team, she’s not about herself and making sure whatever needs to happen for the team that happens ... if she knows somebody is going to do better out there in the back row then she is, she’ll say ‘hey pull me out, put this person in.’ This season we needed her out there all the time and she did a great job at that.”

The youngest member of the all-league team was freshman Paige Valliere, who proved to be a key player for the Lady Cats all season.

Michelle said Paige had to work hard for the setter position and her inexperience on the varsity level didn’t show.

“She did a good job mixing with the older girls,” Michelle said, “and not getting discouraged or not being intimidated out there knowing what she can do, and what type of player she is and just going out there and doing her job and not letting anything else bug her.”