Bravettes win thrice
Play today for a brass
BOZEMAN - The situation looked a little grim Friday morning for the Flathead Bravettes.
They trailed Missoula Sentinel 10-4 in the fifth game of a loser-out match at the All Class State Volleyball tournament.
But then fate smiled just the tiniest amount as Sentinel's Jordan Stewart dumped her next serve into the next.
That meant new life for the Bravettes.
Flathead trailed 10-5 as senior Kendalyn Habel stepped behind the service line. She served six straight points to pull the Bravettes back within one point.
"Every time I got back there (to serve), I didn't even think negative. I just thought positive," Habel said.
Those points breathed new life into the Bravettes as they rallied to beat Sentinel 25-23, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14. They followed that by clipping Helena Capital in the afternoon match, 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20.
By the time they met up with Billings Skyview in Friday's nightcap, the Bravettes were on a roll. Flathead downed Skyview 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16 to earn a spot in today's trophy round. The worst Flathead can do now is third place.
They'll play Billings West at 11 a.m. today in a rematch of Thursday's opening round.
"We played together," Habel said. We were so tired. It took a lot. I didn't know if we were going to make it this far. We all sat down and decided if we were going to go anywhere in this tournament, we were going to have to play together."
Habel led the effort with 50 kills and 94 digs on the day.
"This morning, we were a little scared. We didn't come out with as much energy as we thought we would," agreed senior middle hitter Shaina Evans. "But we never gave up. We believed in each other enough.
"We had to push through being tired and push through being hungry. But I'm almost to the point of exhaustion.
"This has been an amazing day … three straight matches," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox. "I'm really glad it's not an all-Billings show (for the trophies).
"Yesterday, we didn't show up. This morning, we played good, but not great," Wilcox said.
But by Friday afternoon?
"You could see the confidence. They played with a lot of poise. They played confident and they played aggressive … and they played with control," Wilcox said. "Yesterday, we didn't show up mentally. We didn't play together yesterday. Today, we did exactly that."
Flathead def. Sentinel 25-23, 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 16-14
Kills - Flathead 49 (Kendalyn Habel 13, Britta Thorderson 12, Shaina Evans 8, Ashlea Vaudt 8), Sentinel 24 (Jen Keddy 11, Tiffany Seeberger 5), Assists - Flathead 40 (Sierra Olszewski 36), Sentinel 19 (Kelsi Becker 17), Blocks - Flathead 8 (Kaylyn Heaton 5), Sentinel 7 (Keddy 3, Stephanie Peryam 2), Digs - Flathead 104 (Habel 29, Olszewski 20, Steph Elliott 18), Sentinel 72 (Cassie Kavran 21, Baylee Jolliffe 14), Aces - Flathead 13 (Habel 6, Megan Olszewski 3), Sentinel 16 (Keddy 7, Jolliffe 4).
Flathead 3, Helena Capital 1
Kendalyn Habel recorded 17 kills and 30 digs as the Bravettes ended Helena Capital's season in an afternoon match.
Ashlea Vaudt added nine kills, Sierra Olszewski had 30 assists and Kaylyn Heaton contributed seven blocks for the Bravettes.
Sierra Diehl and Ashley Ames each had 13 kills to pace Helena Capital.
Flathead defeat Capital 25-19, 23-25, 25-20, 25-20
Kills - Flathead 40 (Kendalyn Habel 17, Ashlea Vaudt 9), Capital 43 (Sierra Diehl 13, Ashley Ames 13, Cody Goettle 7, Dani Hess 6), Assists - Flathead 37 (Sierra Olszewski 30), Capital 40 (Jackie Polette 39), Blocks - Flathead 11 (Kaylyn Heaton 7), Capital 9 (Ames 4, Diehl 3, Polette 3, Goettle 2), Digs - Flathead 85 (Habel 30, Britta Thorderson 28), Capital 57 (Diehl 16, Ames 13, Sara Polette 9, Jane Reynolds 8), Aces - Flathead 9 (Shaina Evans 3, Megan Olszewski 2, Steph Elliott 2), Capital 5 (S. Pollette 1 , J. Polette 1, Reynolds 1, Goettle 1).
Flathead defeat Billings Skyview 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-16
Kills - Flathead 60 (Habel 20, Thorderson 15, Vaudt 12), Skyview 40 (Ashley Vansickle 14), Assists - Flathead 57 (Olszewski 54), Skyview 31 (Kortney Kemmis 31), Blocks - Flathead 8 (Evans 5), Skyview 2.5 (Jamie Atenbaas 2.5), Digs - Flathead 108 (Habel 35, Elliott 27), Skyview 56 (Casey Williams 20), Aces - Flathead 6 (Megan Olszewski 4), Skyview 4 (Andrea Molen 3).