SOME THINGS OLD AND SOME THINGS NEW

Starting the season with some things old, and some things new, the latest Thompson Falls Blue Hawk volleyball team again looks like a legitimate contender for Western B honors and quite possibly another State B tournament bid.

Although no high school athlete should dare be considered old, coach Sandra Kazmireczak has three returning District 7B all-conference players back this year to anchor the squad in seniors Scarlette Schwindt, Elli Pardee and Arianna Wood represent the Hawks' old guard.

Representing the new part of the equation, juniors Ellie Baxter and Avery Burgess have joined the Falls lineup for the first time this fall.

Making it all sweeter for Kazmierczak, those five will join Cheyla Irvine, Dannijo VanHuss, Abbi Lane, Julissa Bonney and McKenzie Robins also all tested veterans in forming the core for this year's squad, which began season play at the Choteau Invitational last weekend.

The final "new" piece to the puzzle for the 2021 Hawks is the addition of Karli Thomas (known in her Thompson Falls playing days as Karli Cavill) as the new varsity assistant and junior varsity coach. Chrisi Robinson returns as the Lady Hawks' C squad coach and other varsity assistant.

Early season injuries to Schwindt (a rare gem of a player who has already earned All-State B honors three straight times for her incredible play so far in her career) and Wood have forced those two to remain mostly on the sidelines so far. Schwindt is still recovering from back surgery and Wood is nursing a sore knee, but Kazmierczak expects them both back at some point.

Even without two of last year's team leaders in the lineup, the Hawks more than held their own in the 15-team tourney in Choteau last week. Kazmierczak said she was impressed with how her charges competed in the prestigious early-season tournament, which features almost all of the Northern B teams in the state, plus Bigfork and Florence from the Western B, and perennial Class C power Manhattan Christian.

The addition of Baxter, who ran cross country the past two seasons, and Burgess, who transferred from Noxon this past summer, puts the Hawks back in position to be a very good team again this year. Both played vital roles in Choteau in proof of their newfound value to the Hawks on the volleyball court.

"I was very impressed with how these girls came together and competed last week," she said. "We played 12 matches of two games to 21 and had some incredible matches. This tournament is just such a great way to start the season, you see a lot of different teams and get to play a lot of volleyball in a short time.

"And that is just what we needed at this point in the season," she added.

Although the Hawks finished ninth in the final seeding after three rounds of the tourney and did not advance to the Top Six round of play, the whirlwind of net activity will only make the Hawks better in the long run.

"Every team is a little different but it was encouraging to see us play so well even without Scarlette and Arianna able to compete," Kazmierczak said. "It will be interesting to see what happens when we can work them back into the lineup."

Kazmierczak has two opportunities to see how the Hawks respond this week as regular season play cranks up. Thompson Falls visited Florence for a match Tuesday and will host Missoula Loyola at TFHS Thursday.