THOMPSON FALLS — With state volleyball just around the corner, the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks have set themselves up for success as they enter as the as the No. 1 seed from the West for Class B.
"These girls every weekend they just keep improving and I believe it’s the time," said head coach Sandra Kazmierczak. "The time is perfect right now, they are reaching their peak the last couple tournaments and they’re really excited."
And as exciting as the winning has been, Kazmierczak says there’s so much more to being a coach as she wraps up her 31st year with the Blue Hawks.
"The growth, and also the (people) they’ve become, they’re a good group of kids," said a proud Kazmierczak. "They’re really just fun to come in, always having a great time and enjoying what they do and that’s the most important part."
That enjoyment is on full display through the strong team chemistry and energy.
"We’re super positive and supportive," said senior Avery Burgess. "We all work super hard, and I just think that we’ve kind of been climbing a little bit later than some of the other teams but we’re finally getting to where we want to be and I think we’re just going to get better from there."
Burgess may be only one of five seniors on the team but she isn’t alone in believing that success can easily be attributed to how close the group is.
"Our team is closer than any team I’ve been a part of," said fellow senior Natalie Roberts. "We all just gel together, coach Kaz likes the word ‘gel’, so we definitely gel together and we love each other. You can tell that we’ve set a lot of goals we work towards them together."
And after only two conference losses and a strong regular season, the team knows the job is far from finished.
"We’re all super excited and committed," said Roberts. "We’re like, ‘We’re going to state but we want to do good things at state.' We really are excited to play and hopefully succeed."
The Blue Hawks will get the chance to make some noise at state as they play Townsend in the first match on Thursday at 10 a.m. in Bozeman.
