Bengals down FHS in five sets
What a difference a day can make.
The Flathead volleyball team that had such a difficult evening against Helena Capital on Thursday was nowhere to be found Friday as the Bravettes pushed Class AA No. 1 Helena High to five sets.
The Bengals (19-2, 9-2) claimed a tough victory - 25-22, 22-25, 26-24, 23-25, 15-11. The Bravettes (5-5, 13-8) walked away shaking their heads over the couldas, shouldas and wouldas.
Unforced errors had an unfortunate tendency to pop up at crucial points for the Bravettes.
"I thought we bounced back pretty well from last night. We just need to learn to close teams out better. We need to shut them down when we get chances," said Flathead senior middle hitter Danika Johnson.
"We need to get tough, make the decision that they aren't going to get back in and that we're just going to keep pounding away," she added.
"I agree. I just think we need to push it more. We just forget. We're like, ‘oh, now we're ahead,' but we need to keep pushing," agreed junior outside hitter Hannah Sackett.
"We played much better than last night. But the lesson we need to learn going into state and playoffs coming up ... if we play like that, we can beat anybody in the state. For some reason, it's been a very difficult lesson this season," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.
"We're running out of time to keep practicing that. We need to put it all out there every time," he said.
"Sometimes (the Bravettes) will be dynamite. It's there. It's up to them to figure out how to bring that every time. Last night it didn't feel like our team. Today it felt like our team showed up," he added.
"The unforced errors were unfortunate, but you can't say there wasn't effort because they played hard. They competed."
The Bravettes played Helena close in the first set, won the second and had the Bengals on the ropes in the third.
They led 23-20 and had the serve. But two Flathead errors and three Monica Grimsrud kills gave the Bengals a one-point lead. Grimsrud served an ace to finish off the set.
The Bravettes flew ahead 18-10 in set four, but then allowed Helena to close the gap to two points before finally closing out that set.
The fifth set came down to circumstances - and Flathead was unfortunate to have Hannah Sackett stuck in the back row at a crucial point.
She led Flathead with 24 kills, 26 digs and nine service aces.
"Her serving was dynamite," Wilcox said.
"Against the No. 1 team in the state, to get nine aces like that says a lot. Most important to me is the confidence she's showing in her abilities. To go back at any point in the game and continue to serve those (jump serves) ... Helena typically serves jump serves, but when it was getting tight, they stopped.
"I love the fact she kept bringing them," he said.
But when she was most needed - Sackett was stuck in the back row.
"They really stuck it to us when she got back row. By the time we got her back to the front row, we were buried pretty deep," he said.
"I think if we had gotten her to the front row quicker, it could have made a difference for us," Wilcox said.
Other leaders for Flathead were Sarah Aylor with 26 digs and Timi Severson with eight blocks.
"Sarah's effort tonight was great. She dug up a lot that I really didn't think she'd be able to get to," the coach said.
Grimsrud had 29 kills, 17 digs and three aces to lead Helena.
Kills - Helena 47 (Monica Grimsrud 29), Flathead 51 (Hannah Sackett 24), Assists - Helena 41 (Kyndal Williams 37), Flathead 46 (Alison Lunde 25, Emily Russell 20), Blocks - Helena 9 (Brianne Benson 5, Grimsrud 3), Flathead 15 (Timi Severson 8); Digs - Helena 83 (Grimsrud 17, Williams 17), Flathead 79 (Sackett 26, Sarah Aylor 26); Aces - Helena 9 (Grimsrud 3, Brittanie Donohue 2, Aris Frost 2), Flathead 15 (Sackett 9).