Bravettes prevail in five versus Bruins
That last ball hung above the net in Flathead's gymnasium just about forever Friday night.
With the Flathead Bravettes leading Helena Capital at match point in the fifth game of a Western AA volleyball matchup, it floated, slow-motion, toward Flathead middle hitter Kristina Ylinen.
"I love overfeeds," Ylinen said afterward.
"I thought, if that's anywhere close, it's mine."
She knocked it down and the Bravettes (5-2, 2-1) claimed a seesaw 22-25, 25-20, 25-16, 23-25, 15-10 victory over the Bruins (3-5, 0-2).
Ylinen "had been pretty quiet all night," said Flathead coach Christy Harkins.
Flathead had counted on outside hitter Holli Hashley all evening - she led the team with 15 kills and three aces.
"Holli started out the match really well," the coach said.
"But then (the Bruins) were able to camp on her," she said.
The key then was to set Ylinen and felllow middle hitter Chelsea Vaudt.
Once they got more attempts, the Capital blockers had more difficulty with Hashley.
"They held the block a split second to open the outside for her," the coach said.
Harkins reminded Flathead setters Chaeney Latimer and Lindsay Ingram before the fifth game to try to set the 6-foot-2 senior as much as possible - and told Ylinen "to step up and block for us."
She came through with three stuff blocks to start the game - and generally caused havoc at the net for Capital as the Bravettes built a 8-2 lead.
"I wanted it so bad," she said.
"I kind of had this sudden realization
'I can do this,'" she added.
The Bravettes went ahead 10-3, but then made a series of mistakes to let the Bruins back into the game at 13-10.
Harkins called timeout to settle everybody down.
"It looked like we were starting to panic a little bit," she said.
"I think that's youth. We hadn't been in a Game 5 situation before. But now we have experience in that," she laughed.
Harkins reminded the Bravettes they needed only to sideout and score once more.
Sophomore outside hitter Kendalyn Habel knocked a shot hard cross court for the sideout and Ylinen put down the overpass from the Bruins to end the match.
"This is such a great confidence booster. So, now we can play five and win," she said.
The Bravettes travel today to Helena High.
"Another tough match," Harkins said.
"They're young. A lot of potential and always tough at home."
Stats
Kills - Flathead 39 (Holli Hashley 15), Capital 46 (Christina Smetana 16); Assists - Flathead 33 (Chaeney Latimer 16), Capital 36 (Jackie Polette 32); Digs - Flathead 48 (Kendalyn Habel 11), Capital 86 (Christina Smetana 19), Blocks - Flathead 20 (Kristina Ylinen 11), Capital 7 (Lily Peterson, Smetana, Polette 3). Aces - Flathead 12 (Habel, Hashley, 3 each), Capital 9 (Peterson, Smetana, Polette 2).