Team takes second at Malta invitational

The M-ettes have shown a lot of improvement in their first action of the year and nearly won the Malta invitational for the first time in years.

The M-ettes made it all the way to the championship rounds against last years Southern C champs Winnett-Grass Range.

They defeated Malta in two games with the first score being 25-21 and second being 25-14.

This marks the second year in a row that Grass Range has won the Malta invitational after defeating Saco-Hinsdale last year for their 2013 victory.

Though the M-ettes lost the championship round, Coach Julia Tatafu and her team is encouraged by their play last weekend.

The team dominated every other game they played, whether in pool play and in the double elimination.

The team had the best record in the A side of pool play with victories over Highwood, Poplar, Rocky Boy and Scobey, who is looking like they are on course for another good year out of Class C.

Chinook was winner of the B pool.

"In tournament play we ended up doing really well," said M-ette Head Coach Julia Tatafu. "We had a big long break but the girls came out focused and played well."

The first round bye is a gift and curse, allowing teams to rest up, but it's a double edged sword, meaning the relaxation can knock a team off it's rhythm. This wasn't the case for the M-ettes.

Malta took on Plentywood, who had just defeated Rocky Boy. The M-ettes won that game in two games 25-22 and the second also 25-22.

Despite being down 8-15 against Plentywood at one point, the M-ette team worked hard to overcome their opponent.

Seeing that the M-ettes can finish the close games this year shows a major improvement from last year, in which the team kept opposing teams in the game until eventually the team ran out of steam.

Malta went on to decimate TriCity 25-12 in their first game and defeated them in the second in a close one, 25-23.

Then when we played Winnett-Grass Range, we ran out of steam and ended up losing," said Coach Tatafu. "They have a good program."

Tatafu went on to say how proud she was of her M-ette team, who played hard and stayed focused.

"They're determined, hard working and focused," Coach Tatafu said. "I was really proud of how every time they stepped on the court, they gave it 100 percent."

Coach Tatafu believes that even though the team was impressive last weekend, they can always improve in any facet of the game, especially offensively.

"I though we did a great job of defense and serving and receiving," she said. "Now I would like to see us become a little bit more aggressive in offensive hitting and being more consistent on serves."

In their opening game, which was a 25-13 victory over Scobey at the Invitational, the PCN caught up with Larimie Scheffelmear, who is the team Captain and Outside hitter for the team.

"The game went pretty good," said Scheffelmear. "We talked really loud, I thought. Definitely louder than last year. Our cover did really, really good."

Scheffelmear thought that it felt pretty awesome to win their first game and noted that it was encouraging as the team was preparing to enter the tournament.

"We're just taking the tournament one game at a time," added M-ette teammate Darby Schye, who is the middle hitter for the team. "We worked really well together and kept good spirits."

In order to keep their momentum going, Larimie believed the team needed to communicate and keep cheering as games went on. She was right.

In order to improve their game, Scheffelmear believes that the team needs a lot more practice serving.

"Our serves were good today, but yesterday at practice they weren't that good," she told the PCN.

The M-ettes boast a pretty strong group of servers, however the spot serves need a bit of work, luckily for the team, it is something that is correctable.