Lions win district volleyball title

The Daily Inter Lake

PLAINS - The Eureka Lady Lions are District 7B volleyball champions.

The Lions downed St. Ignatius in four games, 25-16, 32-30, 23-25, 26-24, to claim the title.

"That was quite a match," said Eureka head coach Rhonda Hammond.

"Mission just did an outstanding job. They had a great tournament," she said.

The championship "was just back and forth. Our kids did a good job not quitting. We struggled at times, but we never gave up.

"We started making a lot of unforced errors. You could see the Mission kids start to believe in themselves. They got lighter on their feet, they started to swing away. It was good volleyball," she said.

Eureka (14-5) swept Troy earlier in the day to advance to the title match. St. Ignatius (10-9), meanwhile, upset Thompson Falls, in five sets.

The Bluehawks (11-6) beat Troy (7-11) for the consolation title in three games.

All four teams advanced to the Western B divisional beginning Thursday at Missoula's Valley Christian. Eureka will go into the tournament as the No. 1 seed from the north. The top teams advance to the Class B state tournament.

Mariah Newell had 14 kills and four aces in the championship. Carly Hammond contributed 11 digs, Jonna Yost had 30 assists and Briann Linnell helped out with nine blocks.

"We set goals to win the conference and the district tournament," Hammond said.

The Lions have been successful for so long that they've come to expect to win, she said.

"I'm glad they expect to win, but they also need to enjoy it. It's still kind of a big deal," she said.

Championship

Eureka def. St. Ignatius

25-16, 32-30, 23-25, 26-24

Kills - Eureka 43 (Mariah Newell 14), St. Ignatius 31 (Larsson 10). Blocks - Eureka 14 (Linnell 9), St. Ignatius 6 (Larsson 2, Jensen 2). Digs - Eureka 34 (Carly Hammond 11), St. Ignatius 70 (McDonald 19). Assists - Eureka 34 (Yost 30), St. Ignatius 28 (Grant 26). Aces - Eureka 11 (Newell 4), St. Ignatius 7 (Cable 3).

St. Ignatius 3,

Thompson Falls 2

Rachel Jensen had 13 kills and two blocks to help lift the Bulldogs into the championship round with a 25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11 victory.

Lisa Larsson added 13 kills for the Bulldogs, while Mattea Grant collected 28 assists and Katie McDonald had 23 digs.

Kyla Molzhon led the Bluehawks with 15 kills, 13 digs and two aces.

St. Ignatius def. Thompson Falls

25-22, 24-26, 21-25, 25-22, 15-11

Kills - Thompson Falls 42 (Kyla Molzhon 15), St. Ignatius 46 (Lisa Larsson 13, Rachel Jensen 13). Blocks - Thompson Falls 5 (Makayla Becker 2), St. Ignatius 5 (Jensen 2). Digs - Thompson Falls 54 (Molzhon 13), St. Ignatius 72 (Katie McDonald 23). Assists - Thompson Falls 36 (Karli Cavill 35), St. Ignatius 30 (Mattea Grant 28). Aces - Thompson Falls 10 (Molzhon 2, Rheanna Padden 2), St. Ignatius 9 (Kelsey Cable 2, Ashley Courville 2).

Eureka 3, Troy 0

Briann Linnell had eight kills and six blocks and Tayler Holder turned in eight kills and two aces at the Lions advanced with a 25-14, 25-18, 25-18 sweep.

Troy received five kills, seven digs and two aces from Ashley Paasch.

Eureka def. Troy 25-14, 25-18, 25-18

Kills - Eureka 28 (Briann Linnell 8, Tayler Holder 8), Troy 15 (Ashley Paasch 5). Blocks - Eureka 8 (Linnell 6), Troy 2 (Molly Harpole 2). Digs - Eureka 26 (Ashley Gullo 8), Troy 22 (Paasch 7). Assists - Eureka 23 (Jonna Yost 22), Troy 9 (Melissa Olds 9). Aces - Eureka 8 (Holder 2, Yost 2), Troy 4 (Paasch 2).

Thompson Falls 3,

Troy 0

Makayla Becker had three blocks and six digs to lead the Bluehawks to the 25-22, 25-22, 25-18 consolation-match victory.

Consolation

Thompson Falls def. Troy

25-22, 25-22, 25-18

Kills - Thompson Falls 31 (Molzhon 8, Hannah Peters 8), Troy 17 (Kirstin Parks 7). Blocks - Thompson Falls 3 (Becker 3), Troy 4 (Parks 2). Digs - Thompson Falls 28 (Becker 6), Troy 26 (Megan Cummings 9). Assists - Thompson Falls 25 (Cavill 25), Troy 12 (Olds 12). Aces - Thompson Falls 13 (Cavill 6), Troy 6 (Paasch 3).