(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Kaylee Thompson smacks a kill between a pair of Wolfpack blockers Thursday night as the Lady 'Dogs lost to Western 3-0. [Click to enlarge]

Thursday's Lakes Conference match-up between Western Christian and Le Mars was a battle to the end.

Unfortunately, the Class 2A No. 1 Wolfpack came out victorious on the Lady Bulldogs' turf, defeating Le Mars 3-0.

But Le Mars coach Susan Irwin said that her squad's attitude kept them in the match the whole time. "We came out thinking we have nothing to lose," Irwin said. "That was the attitude the girls had and we really stuck with it."

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Kelby Klein pounds down a kill Thursday night against Western Christian. [Click to enlarge]

The first two games of the match were point-for-point battles as the leads changed several times between the competitive squads. Western came away with a 25-21 win in game one to gain some early momentum in the match score.

But that didn't phase Le Mars as they continued to battle in game two, losing 25-20 to fall behind 2-0 in the match.

In the third game, Irwin said, "We hurt ourselves. We just weren't seeing the lines."

After falling to an early deficit in game three, the Lady Bulldogs fought for each point as they rallied a comeback late in the game. "When they were on game point in game three, we scored six points."

The Lady Bulldogs were aggressive on every point of the night, including the game point scenarios in each of the three games.

"This week is really the first time that we've really gotten together to play," Irwin said, referencing the battles with illness her squad has faced thus far this season. "Our game is really coming together with everyone being healthy. I was very proud of the girls tonight."

Irwin credited Western Christian for their solid performance in the match. "Tonight, Western did a nice job with their serves and took our middles out of the game tonight."

Leading the Lady Bulldog offense from the outside was Kirstie Ruhland. The sophomore outside hitter rained down a team-high 11 kills in the match. Kaylee Thompson added six kills in the middle while Kelby Klein stepped it up to pound down six kills from the outside. "She had so much more confidence after the Spirit Lake game [Tuesday]," Irwin said of the junior hitter. "She really came alive tonight."

Also adding to the offense was Emily TeBrink with four kills.

The setting duo of Amy Lubben and Molly Fischer worked hard to dish out assists to the offense. Lubben dished up 12 assists while Fischer recorded 10.

On defense, Cassie Kuiken paced the squad with a team-high 13 digs in the match. "She did a great job," Irwin said of the senior libero.

TeBrink continued her all-around play by adding 11 digs on defense. "Emily was really backing up all the hitters and she did a nice job playing all the way around," Irwin said.

Natalie Miller added five digs in the back row. "She did a nice job tonight," Irwin said. "She's really starting to read the game and read the hitters."

Defense at the net was limited for the Lady Bulldogs, but Thompson did smack up two blocks against the Wolfpack.

Irwin also credited her back row defenders for their excellent passing game. "Our passing game has been pretty solid these past couple weeks," Irwin said. "They really did a nice job. Having two senior passers back there makes a big difference."

From the service line, TeBrink was a perfect 9-9 with one ace serve. Fischer also added an ace as she went 8-10 in the match. Ruhland was also 8-10 on the night.

Le Mars (14-8, 3-3) has a chance to face Western Christian again in the very near future as the Lady Bulldogs compete at the Clearview Classic, hosted by the Wolfpack, Saturday in Hull. While the Lakes Conference squads are not in the same pool, they could face off in the afternoon's championship round.

Le Mars will face MOC-Floyd Valley, Class 3A No. 3 Sioux City Heelan and Unity Christian in its pool.

"I'm kind of excited because we didn't have all our girls when we played Unity first," Irwin said of the schools' previous meeting at Unity's tournament. "We were three girls short, so I'm very excited for the rematch with them. It will be a lot of fun."

The Lady Bulldogs will also see MOC-FV for the second time this season, after defeating the Lady Dutch in MOC-FV's tournament during the first outing of the season. "Those games were so tight that we played them in earlier this season," Irwin said. "I'm excited to see Heelan as well."

Le Mars has not seen Heelan previously this season.

In addition to the host Western Christian, the other pool will feature Harlan, Sioux City East and Class 2A No. 6 Pella Christian.

Tournament play begins in Hull at 8:30 a.m. Saturday.