Glacier cruises past Big Sky

Glacier’s Rachel Cutler watches her spike against Missoula Big Sky during Thursday evening’s Western AA match at Glacier High School.

Glacier’s Cassi Hashley puts her hands up at the net to block a shot by Missoula Big Sky’s Ellen Wolferman’s spike.

by Dixie Knutson Daily Inter Lake
| October 29, 2010 2:00 AM

Glaciers Cassi Hashley puts her hands up at the net to block a shot by Missoula Big Skys Ellen Wolfermans spike.

Short, sweet and to the point.

The Glacier Wolfpack volleyball team took less than an hour to dispatch Missoula Big Sky on Thursday night as it swept the Eagles 25-13, 25-15, 25-12.

Lexy Boschee had 13 kills and Cami Mathison had 16 digs. Paige Latimer added 25 assists and five aces.

A relaxed Glacier coach Christy Harkins was hard-pressed to find any fault with the way the Wolfpack (17-5, 9-2) played.

"They were really aggressive, that's for sure. We were swinging hard tonight. I thought Cami (Mathison) passed really well, I thought they were really playing hard and playing well," she said.

"We did some good things."

The evening got off to a bit of a scary start - the sub-varsity matches all got over early, before some of the varsity athletes arrived at Glacier.

"We were in a little bit of a panic, actually. The JV was in Set 2 before all the varsity players were here. We're so used to starting late," Harkins smiled.

"That was all right. We got here. We got focused. I thought the girls did a good job putting a lot of senior night distractions and a lot of things aside," she said.

Another worry Harkins had beforehand was whether or not the Wolfpack would overlook Big Sky (0-12).

"I was a little bit nervous about that, most definitely, coming in on senior night with crosstown coming up and all those things," she said.

"We had a good talk about that. I told them it doesn't matter what anybody's record is, they are going to play hard against you."

Once the Wolfpack was on the court, there was very little mystery as to who was the better team. Glacier was simply too much for the Eagles.

The Wolfpack built such a huge lead that Harkins was able to substitute younger players into the match.

"Trying to narrow down that playoff roster, so it's good to get kids in, give them a breather out there and let them feel (what it's like to play varsity) when there's not pressure," she said.

Kills - Big Sky (16 (Elle Tinkle 7), Glacier 34 (Lexy Boschee 13), Assists - Big Sky (15 (Shannon O'Reilly 8), Glacier 26 (Paige Latimer 25), Blocks - Big Sky 5 (Tinkle 4); Glacier 5 (Cassidy Hashley 3), Digs - Big Sky 30 (O'Reilly 10), Glacier 48 (Cami Mathison 16); Aces - Big Sky 3 (Emily Griffith 2), Glacier 7 (Latimer 5).