Bravettes settle for 2nd place in Class AA state volleyball

The Daily Inter Lake

BOZEMAN - Give Billings Senior credit.

The Broncs woke up Saturday morning with a daunting uphill battle before them.

They had to beat a hot Bozeman team just to get into the Class AA state volleyball championship and then they had to beat the Flathead Bravettes twice in order to win the title.

It took them 11 games to claim their second straight championship - four against Bozeman, then seven versus Flathead.

They beat Flathead 25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14 to force a second championship game, then defeated the Bravettes 25-13, 25-13, 25-15 in the second.

Flathead claimed the second-place trophy and Bozeman got third.

Flathead coach Christy Harkins was the first to acknowledge the featthe Broncs pulled off.

"Battling back like that - they earned it," she said.

"Senior was very good today. They were the better team today," she said.

"They were more consistently good. We had moments, but they have so many hitters, so many options at the net."

The Broncs also picked up their defense, she added.

The things Flathead did when it beat Senior in Friday's semifinal were covered in Saturday's championship.

"We got frustrated today. We got very frustrated today," she added.

Unlike Friday's match, the Bravettes got off to a fairly decent start.

"I thought we came out ready to play," Harkins said.

They traded points with the Broncs in the first game up until 15-all. And then the separation happened - Flathead was whistled for being in the net, Senior got a kill and Flathead had a hitting error. Suddenly, the score was 18-15. That was enough to carry Senior through the first game.

Flathead did win the third game, 25-22, but the Broncs turned their offense up a notch in the fourth. They broke free quickly and never looked back.

They never looked back for that match - or the second one.

"I'm really proud of the effort," Harkins said. "I'm just proud of everybody's effort. We battled through a lot of adversity," she said.

Some of that was the ankle sprain suffered Thursday by senior middle hitter Chelsea Vaudt.

Vaudt turned in eight blocks and three service aces in the first championship.

But by the end of the second match, she was in obvious pain.

"She put in such a great fight. She answered the call every time we needed her," the coach said.

Kendalyn Habel led Flathead in the first match with 16 kills, Ashley Robinson had 11 digs and Lindsay Ingram had 32 assists.

The stats were a bit more sparse in the second match.

Four kills for both Vaudt and Habel, nine assists for Ingram and seven digs for Robinson. There was no block or ace leader.

Still, "It was a good tournament," the coach said.

This was Harkins' last match as Flathead's head coach, as she has already taken the head job at Kalispell's new Glacier High School.

The only member of the current Bravette squad who will make the transfer with her is sophomore Emilee Hashley.

"It was a good run of five years at Flathead. I enjoyed every minute of it," Harkins said.

"Great kids, good parents. I am very proud of what we did. Proud of the effort and the determination.

"I'm going to miss them. I'm going to miss those kids a lot."

Billings Senior def. Flathead

25-18, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14

Kills - Billings Senior 41 (Kristin Carroll 12, Ashley Welborn 10), Flathead 39 (Kendalyn Habel 16), Assists - Billings Senior 34 (Emily Carroll 33), Flathead 39 (Lindsay Ingram 32), Blocks - Billings Senior 14 (Jandi Farnsworth 6), Flathead 12 (Chelsea Vaudt 8), Digs - Billings Senior 69 (Sarah Kennedy 13), Flathead 33 (Ashley Robinson 11), Aces - Billings Senior 6 (Kelly O'Malley 3), Flathead 5 (Vaudt 3).

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Billings Senior def. Flathead

25-13, 25-13, 25-15

Kills - Billings Senior 36 (Ashley Welborn 8, Kelly O'Malley 7), Flathead 17 (Chelsea Vaudt 4, Kendalyn Habel 4), Assists - Billings Senior 29 (Emily Carroll 28), Flathead 15 (Lindsay Ingram 9), Blocks - Billings Senior 11 (Welborn 6, Jandi Farnsworth 4), Flathead 6 (No leader), Digs - Billings Senior 67 (Sara Kennedy 19), Flathead 14 (Ashley Robinson 7), Aces - Billings Senior 9 (E Carroll 3), Flathead 2 (No leader).