Lady T-cats begin league play against Gar-Pal

Tournament play helped the Lady Tigercats jump start the season last week as the team went on the road to participate in the Odessa Jamboree and Freeman Tournament. The Lady Tigercats also began league competition on Sept. 11 with an opening match against Garfield-Palouse.

The LWK team took the court at the Odessa Tournament on Sept. 9 determine the strengths of the Lady Tigercats, both as individuals and as a team. As a relatively young team, head coach Sandy Martin was watching to see how the girls performed in a game situation and to evaluate the best position for each player.

“This was a great way to get a feel for what our strengths are and where we still need work. The girls played well at times, and a little unsure at other times,” Martin said.

The team played three, two-set matches at the jamboree and the highlight of the day proved to be splitting the match with Lind-Ritzville/Sprague, Martin said.

The Lady Tigercats served 88 percent during the jamboree, and Martin said the team strives to serve 90 percent during each match. While the serve receive was shaking at times, Martin said it was to be expected in the early season games.

The LWK team first matched up with Odessa-Harrington, losing the match with scores of 8-21, 16-21. They then faced Davenport and suffered the second loss of the day, 14-21, 3-21.

The final match of the day against LRS proved to be the strongest match for the Lady Tigercats, who lost the first set 20-22 before winning the second set 21-16.

The Broncos are a strong, tall team, Martin said, and winning a set against a solid team helped boost the confidence for the Lady Tigercats.

Gail Harder had a solid day at the net for the Lady Tigercats, earning nine kills for the team. Jessica Guske led the team in digs and Nicole Harder led in assists with 12. Jazzmyn Gordon earned six blocks at the net.

After the jamboree, the Lady Tigercats had a quick turnaround before beginning league competition. With only one practice between the two outings, Martin said the team concentrated on basic skill development.

The Lady Tigercats pushed the Garfield-Palouse match to four sets, with scores of 20-25, 25-17, 18-25, 18-25. Martin said the team played well against the Vikings, and improved in passing and also served 92 percent.

“G/P is taller than we are, so my hitters had a little trouble at the net. This helped point out the fact that we needed to prepare better for this, so that was our focus at practice the next night,” Martin said.

Gail Harder led the team again in kills with 12, Guske added 11 digs, Britte Harder earned two blocks and Nicole Harder had 14 assists. Gordon served 100 percent from the line and had two aces.

At the Freeman Tournament the team underwent changes in rotation, partially due to the absence of the setter, Nicole Harder. Martin explained she plans to continually move athletes to new positions throughout the season as they grow and show strengths to benefit the team in different areas.

The tournament served as an opportunity to play all of the athletes and allow Martin to change the line up for the upcoming matches. Due to the reduced pressure of the tournament, Gail Harder was able to practice jump serves and stats for all of the athletes were logged.

Gail Harder had 19 kills, Gordon led with 23 digs, Britte Harder added six blocks and Abby McGregor put up 12 assists. Guske led the team in serving, going 39 of 40 from the line.

“We will continue to focus on basic skill development with certain ‘fine-tuning’ as we progress throughout the season,” Martin said about the upcoming games. “We are learning to take more chances by being more aggressive at the net.”

The Lady T-cats play Colton on Thursday, Sept. 18, in Colton.