Clark Fork improves to 5-1 with victory over Kootenai

KOOTENAI — Clark Fork volleyball claimed its fifth straight match with a three set win over Kootenai on Tuesday night. They won 25-17, 25-9, 25-18.

Clark Fork volleyball head coach Michelle Valliere said she was happy with the result but thought her team could’ve played better.

The second game was fine,” she said, “we held them to nine but the first and the third game I was really hoping not to have let them get so many points on us which was kind of disappointing.”

Michelle Valliere said a lot of the blame for the Wampus Cats not playing at their best can be contributed to several key players being sick including senior outside Ellie Kiebert and freshman setter Paige Valliere.

“Having your setter sick is hard because they touch every ball,” she said.

Despite being sick, Ellie Kiebert led the Wampus Cats with five kills and 11 digs and Paige Valliere helped facilitate the offensive attack with 26 assists.

Senior outside hitter Abbie Anderson smashed five aces to silence the Warriors.

Kiebert, senior middle hitter Sophie McMahon and junior Grace Browne each collected one block to led Clark Fork’s defensive effort.

“It’s hard to play your game when your playing a team that’s not at your same level so that’s one thing the girls need to work on some is just making sure we’re always playing our side of the court and not letting what’s happening on the other side of the court affect us,” Michelle Valliere said.

The Wampus Cats haven’t lost a regular season match since their first game of the year at home against Priest River, where they fell short in a five-set thriller.

Since then, Clark Fork has taken down Bonners Ferry and four North Star League opponents to obtain a 5-1 record this season.

Michelle Valliere said her team is going to focus on improving their hitting to avoid kill errors in preparation for their matchup at home with Mullan 6 p.m. tonight.

“We’re looking forward to that game,” she said. “I hope that Paige and Ellie are feeling better and we can have a little better showing.”