Bravettes bounce back, beat Libby
Play every point like it's the state championship point.
That's the vow Flathead Bravette volleyball team members made to one another after last Saturday's five-game loss at Helena.
The Libby Lady Loggers of the Northwestern A conference were the first team on which the Bravettes tried it out.
The result was a 25-14, 25-15, 25-20 Flathead sweep Tuesday evening.
"We just kind of shut down," said Flathead senior libero Ashley Robinson of the Helena game. "We started to get a little down and we started to play timid.
"We talked about it a lot, about not being afraid of making errors and just swinging. (We decided to) go aggressive no matter what," Robinson said.
The Bravettes (11-4, 8-2) not only swung hard, they were also accurate.
Sophomore Emilee Hashley took eight swings - she had five kills and no errors. Junior Ashley Vaudt had four kills on six swings. Those two weren't even the kill leaders. Junior Kendalyn Habel had eight kills.
Other Flathead leaders were Chelsea Vaudt with four blocks, Lindsay Ingram with 14 assists and Shaina Evans with three aces.
"They were a pretty good team," Robinson said of the Loggers (9-2, 9-1). "They came out pretty strong. They were digging everything and swinging - they played really good defense on us," she said.
"We were expecting a lot from them and they gave us a lot."
"I was happy to see us come out aggressive and confident," said Flathead coach Christy Harkins.
"Libby has some great hitters, they serve aggressively and I thought they did a good job in Game 3 of attacking the ball deep."
On the other side of the net, Libby coach Cindy Ostrem-Johnson was glad the Loggers got a chance to play Flathead.
"I thought we would play tougher, but they're a solid team and we've never seen so many quicks (sets)," Ostrem-Johnston said.
"But I thought we got better about trying to defend them," she added.
The Loggers might have been a bit intimidated by the Class AA team, Ostrem-Johnston said.
"They played a little scared the first few points. The Libby spirit just wasn't there. We weren't really fired up."
The first two games were pretty much all Flathead from start to finish.
Still, the Loggers were determined not to go away easily.
They were right with Flathead in the third game. Neither team was able to gain more than a two-point separation - until Flathead senior setter Chaeney Latimer entered the game with a 12-11 advantage.
Her first serve was an ace. That put Flathead up 13-11 and was followed by two Logger hitting errors.
By the time Libby's Laice Dedrick was able to tip for a kill, Flathead led 15-12. A kill and a block by Hashley put the Bravettes on top 17-12.
That was enough, although three straight Logger kills made it interesting at the end.
"I was proud of them," Ostrem-Johnston said of the Loggers.
"Kalispell has a big block. But they got up and took some pretty good swings," she said.
Freshman Jackie Mee had nine kills and a block for the Loggers. Dedrick added five kills, seven digs and served two aces and senior Karen Byrns had five kills and an ace.
The Loggers play another nonconference match Thursday, when they play host to Frenchtown, but they follow that up with a volleyball break.
"They're tired and they played that way," Ostrem-Johnston said. "Maybe a little break will be just what we need."
Flathead defeat Libby 25-14, 25-15, 25-20
Kills - Libby 25 (Jackie Mee 9, Karen Byrns 5, Laice Dedrick 5), Flathead 30 (Kendalyn Habel 8); Assists - Libby 22 (Shelby Barton 19, Nichole Newman 3), Flathead 28 (Lindsay Ingram 14); Blocks - Libby 2 (Mee 1, Newman 1), Flathead 9 (Chelsea Vaudt 4); Digs - Libby 23 (Dedrick 7, Megan Wedel 6, Brooke Hageness 3), Flathead 42 (Ashley Robinson 12, Kendalyn Habel 12) Aces - Libby 3 (Dedrick 2, Byrns 1), Flathead 7 (Shaina Evans 3).