Bravettes bounced by Bozeman

BOZEMAN - The effort was there, the desire was there ... but unfortunately for the Flathead Bravettes, so were the same unforced errors that foiled them earlier in the Class AA state volleyball tournament.

Bozeman swept Flathead from the tournament, 25-19, 25-16, 25-19 in loser-out play on Friday.

"I felt like the girls played hard. I felt like they were trying to fight out there," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.

But the errors came in groups, from mishits to watching the ball hit the floor.

"With those unforced errors, Bozeman got momentum and they never let it go," Wilcox said.

The mistakes started, oddly enough, with Flathead holding a 13-8 first-set lead. The Bravettes appeared to be just getting started on an offensive roll - back-to-back kills from Cassie Krueger and Hannah Sackett, a Kruger block and two service aces from Timi Severson had Flathead chugging along nicely.

But three straight hitting errors were enough to let Bozeman back in the set.

The Hawks were able to tip for kills and within moments, a five-point Flathead lead turned into a three-point Bozeman lead.

And the Bravettes never recovered. They trailed the entire second set, and led only briefly in the third.

"We adjusted (to the tips). Emma (Lawrence-Yee) did a great job. But then Bozeman went back to swinging and we couldn't get a block," Wilcox said.

"Bozeman was just on fire. Bozeman outplayed us today. They were hot and their jitters were really hard to stop."

Sackett led Flathead with 14 kills, 18 digs and two aces.

Krueger added eight kills and Timi Severson also had two aces.

"Hannah hit well. Timi hit really well. She had zero hitting errors and both our setters competed really well. They both played to win," the coach said.

"We've had a good season. We've got young kids who have learned a lot. We will be back. I know we will be back.

"My wish for them is they learn something from this and get a little bit of determination ... or a lot of determination ... because we will be back."

Kills -- Bozeman 42 (Lindzee Bair 11, Ahlea Billis 10), Flathead 32 (Hannah Sackett 14, Cassie Krueger 8), Assists -- Bozeman 36 (Lindsey Manning 30), Flathead 31 (Alison Lunde 14, Emily Russell 13), Blocks -- Bozeman 7 (Taylor Parker 5), Flathead 5 (No leader), Digs -- Bozeman 59 (Kasia Bothman 15, Billis 11), Flathead 69 (Sackett 18, Sarah Aylor 15), Aces -- Bozeman 2 (Hanna Mackie 2), Flathead 6 (Sackett 2, Timi Severson 2).