Clark Fork takes down No. 1 seed Mullan, earns fourth straight trip to state

MULLAN — The Clark Fork volleyball team is headed back to state.

The Lady Cats, the second seed, bested No. 1 Mullan in three sets in the 1A Division II District 1 championship match on Thursday night.

Clark Fork won 25-17, 25-19, 25-21.

With the win, Clark Fork advances to state for the fourth straight year.

"I'm super proud of the girls, they did a great job," head coach Michelle Valliere said. "Mullan's really gotten a lot better than they have been in the last three years we've played them, and that was a hard fought match that we won tonight and the girls played good. They earned it, Mullan did not give it to us by any means."

Two weeks ago, Mullan upset Clark Fork in five sets on its home court. The victory by the Tigers gave both teams a 3-1 North Star League and Mullan won the virtual coin toss to claim the No. 1 seed in the district tournament.

Valliere said that loss was a wake-up call for her team.

"I think they kind of just thought this season, 'Oh we're a shoe in for a state because all we have to do is beat Kootenai and Mullan,'" she said, "but then after we played Mullan at home we were like, Mullan's a contender for taking us down and getting to go to state over us ... I think that made the victory even sweeter just knowing we had to work to get [to state]."

Valliere said her team put in the time to make this win possible.

"They've been working really hard the last week in practice," she said, "and I've been super happy with what they are doing on the court now."

Paige Valliere led the team with 18 assists. Katelyn Matteson had nine kills and an ace, Emily Myers tallied 13 digs, Caiya Yanik grabbed two blocks and an ace and Taylor Staley added one ace.

Clark Fork (12-2) will take on Castleford in the first round of the 1A Division II state volleyball tournament at 9:30 a.m. next Friday at Burley High School.