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The wait was clearly worth it.

Coach Sandra Kazmierczak and her Lady Hawks were on a waiting list for years trying to get into the Choteau Invitational volleyball tournament and then, several seasons ago they finally did gain entry.

Now, Kazmierczak says, you would have trouble getting the Hawks out of the Choteau tourney as there would be much kicking, screaming and dragging of the feet to stay in.

“I love this tournament and am so glad that we were finally able to get in it,” she said. “There are always a lot of good teams and we always get to play a lot of volleyball in a short amount of time.”

Kazmierczak said the 2019 version of the Choteau was another good one. The Hawks, after playing 12 matches, unofficially finished seventh among the 15 teams in town for the event.

Coach Kaz said she and her Lady Hawks enjoyed every point of this year’s Choteau tourney in retrospect.

“We passed well, hit the ball hard and played lots of games,” she said. “We tried some different things, different people at different positions and the girls responded really well.”

The Hawks played five two-set matches on Friday to determine which teams would move on to Saturday’s championship round. After just missing the cut for the title round, the Lady Hawks went out and played seven more two-set matches Saturday.

“We did well in our games, we either split sets or won both in most of our matches,” Kazmierczak said. “The girls really carried themselves well through the whole two days. They just did a really good job.”

In matches Friday, the Lady Hawks split sets with Manhattan Christian (21-20, 9-21) and Townsend (7-21, 21-18) but lost to Florence (15-21, 13-21) and Shelby (18-21, 18-21).

Back on court Saturday, the Hawks split with Ennis 15-21, 21-12, topped Wolf Point 21-15,21-12, edged Townsend 21-20, 21-20, split with Fairfield 17-21, 21-18, fell to Manhattan Christian 18-21, 17-21, beat Simms 21-11, 21-13, and took down Conrad twice, by 21-12, 21-12 and 21-20, 21-13 scores.

Kazmierczak said Riley Wilson played at the libero position for the Lady Hawks last weekend and “did an outstanding job” in her new role.

She said Belle Cooper, Jody Detlaff, Brooke Bowlin, Scarlette Schwindt and Elli Pardee also all played very well, along with all the rest of the Lady Hawks who got floor time in Choteau.

Embarking into regular season play this week, the Hawks will play at Florence Thursday and entertain Loyola Saturday in Thompson Falls’ first home match of the season.