Glacier rallies to trip Sentinel

MISSOULA - Rachel Cutler had 22 kills and Tiffany Marks eight blocks as the Glacier Wolfpack rallied from a two-set deficit to claim a Western AA volleyball victory from Missoula Sentinel.

Scores were 16-25, 18-25, 25-23, 29-27, 15-10.

"The (sets) were very, very close. It was very exciting. Sets 3, 4 and 5 were intense. It was a great atmosphere," said Wolfpack coach Christy Harkins.

"It was a good match, both sides."

Neither team served many aces - three for Glacier, six for Sentinel - but both teams had a ton of digs. Glacier had 94 and Sentinel 104.

"The ball was in the air most of the time. That's pretty cool. (The Spartans) made so many great saves ... you've just got to keep playing every single minute," she said.

"Rachel played amazing. She was gold. Everything she touched was awesome. She really carried us," Harkins said.

The night didn't start off well for the Wolfpack - the hitting errors piled up in the first two sets.

That was frustrating - the ball was getting to setter Paige Latimer and she was putting up nice sets, but the hitters couldn't find the court.

"We were just bad. Hitting errors just plagued us. We passed very well," Harkins added.

"I thought Cami Mathison played great and we got a great spark off the bench from Baylee Quay," Harkins said.

The Wolfpack (5-2, 11-4) is at Capital on Saturday

Kills - Glacier 52 (Rachel Cutler 22), Sentinel 41 (Morgan McCarthy 16). Blocks - Glacier 9 (Tiffany Marks 8), Sentinel 6 (McCarthy 3). Digs - Glacier 94 (Cami Mathison 28), Sentinel 104 Kimmy Kavran 26). Assists - Glacier 49 (Paige Latimer 48), Sentinel 31 (Catie Propp 24). Aces - Glacier 3. Sentinel 6 (Propp 4).

Whitefish 3, Ronan 1

WHITEFISH - Olivia Nagler led Whitefish with 12 kills and Marlow Schulz had two blocks as Whitefish defeated Ronan 25-21, 25-27, 25-18, 25-21 in Northwestern A play.

"I really like the way my setters (Olivia Nagler and Taylor Havens) set the ball tonight," Whitefish coach Jackie Fuller.

"I thought they did a nice job of moving the offense around. All in all a great team effort. We had a lot of mental breakdowns, yet they never gave up."

Whitefish (4-2 overall and 4-1 league) hosts Columbia Falls today at 7 p.m.

Kills - Ronan 32 (Tailyr Irvine 8), Whitefish 39 (Olivia Nagler 12); Blocks - Ronan 1 (Tuesday Salmon), Whitefish 10 (Marlow Schulz 2); Assists - Ronan 25 (Taylor Lynch 14), Whitefish 38 (Taylor Havens 20); Digs - Ronan 49 (Alice VanGunten 12), Whitefish 66 (Heather Bailey 20); Aces - Ronan 6 (Lynch 2); Whitefish 5 (Madison Tveidt 3)

Bigfork 3, Eureka 2

The Bigfork Valkyries served four aces in the first six points of the deciding fifth set to defeat visiting Eureka 25-21, 25-19, 21-25, 14-25 15-11 in a District 7B matchup.

Selene Elster and Cassidy Morgan each tallied 14 kills for the Lions while Kirsten Campbell and Mallery Knoll had nine apiece for the Vals.

Elster also had two blocks and served two aces for Eureka.

Knoll had 27 digs for Bigfork and Hannah Barrett added 15 assists and four aces.

"It was a fun game, very close," said Bigfork coach Tracy Wicklund.

Bigfork won the first two sets, but Eureka came back to claim the next two. "They didn't give up and we didn't give up," she said.

"We play a lot like each other. We're both scrappy," she said.

"We had some good serves and I think they struggled a little bit with their serves, so that gave us a leg up," she added.

Bigfork (6-1) is off now until next Thursday when it travels to Thompson Falls.

Kills - Eureka 50 (Selene Elster 14, Cassidy Morgan 14, Tasha Mikita 13), Bigfork 36 (Kirsten Campbell 9, Mallery Knoll 9); Assists - Eureka 42 (Alyssa White 37), Bigfork 30 (Hannah Barrett 15, Taylor Peck 14); Blocks - Eureka 10 (Brittney Shook 3, Selene Elster 2, Alyssa White 2), Bigfork 7 (Melissa Vandeveer 4, Amber McDaniel 2); Digs - Eureka 92 (Alyssa White 28), Bigfork 87 (Knoll 27, Kianna Wicklund 15). Aces - Eureka 5 (White 2, Elster 2), Bigfork 13 (Hannah Barrett 4, Vandeveer 4),

Stillwater 3,

FV Home School 0

Julie Smith and Jordan Danz led a solid attack for Stillwater with nine and six kills, respectively, to keep the Cougars perfect on the season in a MCAA West Division match at West Valley School.

Stillwater (22-0 and 8-0) dominated all five statistical areas in winning 25-15, 25-6, 25-11.

Shelby Lucht led FVHS in kills with four and shared the assist lead with Shelby Sladek, both with four.

Sladek led in aces with two.

Katie Harrel had two blocks and a team-high eight aces for Stillwater.

Stillwater plays at Hot Springs tonight.

Up next for FVHS is a trip to North Idaho Christian School on Oct. 15.

Kills - Stillwater 27 (Julia Smith 9, Jordan Danz 6), Flathead Valley 10 (Shelby Lucht 4, Shelby Sladek 3); Blocks - Stillwater 6 (Katie Harrel 2, Morgan Paolini 2), Flathead Valley 2 (Marian Burden 2); Assists - Stillwater 24 (Paolini 22), Flathead Valley 9 (Sladek 4, Lucht 4); Digs - Stillwater 33 (Danz 9, Linnea Hashley 7), Flathead Valley 18 (Sladek 8, Lucht 6); Aces - Stillwater 19 (Harrel 8, Hashley 6), Flathead Valley (Sladek 2)