Bravettes handle Helena easily

Columbia Falls defeats Billings Central 2-1 in OT

The Helena High Bengals worked pretty hard just to get back into the point.

The Bengals, trailing the Flathead Bravettes 24-14 in the first game of Saturday's regular season volleyball finale, dug a ball out the net and shot it deep into Flathead's back row.

Job well done.

Except the Bravettes stepped in, passed perfectly to Flathead setter Chaeney Latimer who set senior Holli Hashley to the outside - easy kill down the line.

Job done better.

Flathead (9-3, 15-7) was simply too much for Helena to handle all the way around as the Bravettes put together a workmanlike win - 25-14, 25-15, 25-23 - over the Bengals.

"Good solid way to end. We're sitting solid at No. 2," said Flathead coach Christy Harkins.

Flathead's win, together with a Big Sky loss earlier this week, locks up second place in Western AA and ensures the Bravettes a bye into the Nov. 10-12 Class AA state tournament.

The Bravettes sided out quickly to start the match, then built a 9-1 lead behind the serving of outside hitter Holli Hashley.

Things were rolling so well the Bravettes were up 15-6 before Hashley, the team's kill leader, recorded her first kill of the evening.

For awhile, it looked as though Hashley might serve out the game.

Assistant coach Brigid Fujino jinxed that, though, when she leaned over to Harkins and asked "'Do you think Hashley's going to get out of the back row?'"

"We were messing with some different things in our lineup," Harkins said.

"Tonight we were working on our defense," she said.

Senior middle hitter Kristina Ylinen had one of her best matches of the season with 11 kills and 10 blocks.

"I wanted to defend my home court. It's the last time I get to play here," Ylinen said afterward.

The only blot on the evening was the third game. The Bravettes, after two easy wins, fell behind 14-17 before rallying behind Ylinen's blocking. Three of her blocks - including match point - came in the final four points.

"I was watching the hitters come in so I could position myself. You don't even look at the ball. You just look for who is going for it and line up in front of them," Ylinen said.

"The intensity wasn't there in that third game," Harkins said.

"I think we got a little excited after the second game," Hashley said.

"We looked past that game. We needed to focus on the moment. They're an aggressive team. They made it a good game.

"But we wanted it bad enough," Hashley said.

"We have a goal to win in three (games)," Ylinen put in.

Flathead def. Helena 25-14, 25-15, 25-23

Kills - Helena 19 (Leah Anderson 6), Flathead 42 (Kristina Ylinen 11); Assists - Helena 16 (Katie Roen 15), Flathead 34 (Chaeney Latimer 21); Digs - Helena 27 (Katie Roen 6), Flathead 48 (Holli Hashley 10, Kendalyn Habel 10); Blocks - Helena 2 (Aimee Morrison 2), Flathead 12 (Ylinen 10); Aces - Helena 7 (Leah Anderson 4), Flathead 12 (Hashley 4).