Crosstown sweep for Wolfpack in volleyball

Glacier volleyball coach Christy Harkins sat on the information all match.

The Wolfpack members had told the coach they didn't want to know the result of Saturday's Helena High-Missoula Sentinell match until after their own crosstown match with Flathead.

If Glacier (18-5 10-2) defeated Flathead- and Sentinel defeated Helena High - the Wolfpack would claim the Western AA conference championship and the automatic bid to the Class AA state tournament.

The Wolfpack swept Flathead 25-18, 25-19, 25-19 and Sentinel defeated Helena High.

With the Wolfpack at match point against the Bravettes (14-9, 6-6), Harkins couldn't contain herself any longer.

"At point 24, Cami (Mathison) was off on the bench. I went and told her. I'm holding it for three games! It was killing me!" Harkins said.

"I said ‘conference champs all by ourselves. We're going to state!'"

"Then we lost the ball and (Mathison) went out on the court and told everyone else. Rachel (Cutler) started to cry,'" Harkins laughed.

"I'm just so proud of these kids," the coach said.

And surprised, too, she admitted.

At the start of the season "I would have thought we'd be at home hosting a playoff. Number one? Huh-uh. But these kids just got better and better," she said.

"We worked hard to get here," setter Paige Latimer said of winning the conference.

Flathead drops to fifth in Western AA and will travel this week to Helena Capital for a playoff match.

Rachel Cutler had a fabulous match for the Wolfpack on Saturday - seven kills, 10 digs and six service aces. Lexy Boschee added seven kills and Tiffany Marks had four blocks.

Sweeping Flathead in three sets also surprised Harkins.

"I never in a million years would have expected with all the talent they have ... and the battles that it's been so many times ... that we would be able to stay strong like that every game," she said.

"Good competitors, my kids," she smiled.

The victory was also a season sweep for Glacier as it won in five sets earlier this fall.

"I thought it was going to be a tough match. But we're getting better and better," Latimer agreed.

"I thought Timi Severson had her best night this season and I thought both of our setters played hard - and Danika (Johnson) was intense, she was competing. It was just not a team effort," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.

"I don't mind losing to a good team like Glacier when we play our best, but I have a difficult time when we play like we did tonight.

"I didn't feel like we were 100 percent in any point of the game. It was pretty flat.

"The biggest issue was our passing," he said.

"I know we have one of the best offenses in the state, but we couldn't get it going because we couldn't get the ball to our setters. It's hard to build momentum when you can't get anything going in your offense."

The Wolfpack, on the other hand, was right on top of its game.

It claimed the first set handily. Flathead led 3-1 to start the match, but Glacier answered with kills from Cutler and Boschee to get the lead.

Flathead, meanwhile, struggled. It hit into the net, allowed the ball to drop and had several service errors.

Flathead looked as though it was putting its game together in the second set, building a 13-8 lead, but Latimer got a kill on a dump to get the serve back for Glacier.

Kendra Bouley served three points to get the Wolfpack close, Latimer tied it with a pair of aces and then Cutler rattled off five jump serves, to give Glacier a lead it wouldn't surrender.

"We had to be aggressive in everything we did," Cutler said.

Plus, "we knew a lot of the middle of the court was open, so we wanted to put it right in the middle where none of the defenders were," she said.

"Keep swinging," was the mantra for the evening.

"We just had to play strong and know we were the winning team," she said.

"We have to all play together and that is the soul of our entire team. Everyone being on and playing together," the senior said.

"I have to give it all up to our libero Cami Mathison. She did absolutely fantastic for us tonight," Cutler added.

"Our middle blockers were amazing, I thought," Latimer put in.

"We wanted to keep their blockers moving around," Harkins said.

"I thought we did that fairly well the first game, fairly well the second game. In the third game, their blockers started camping outside a little bit and started giving us a little trouble, so we had to make sure we went back to running the middle and the right side," she said.

Hannah Sackett led Flathead with seven kills and nine digs. Danika Johnson added five kills and three blocks.

Kills - Glacier 27 (Lexy Boschee 7, Rachel Cutler 7), Flathead 24 (Hannah Sackett 7, Danika Johnson 5); Assists - Glacier 24 (Paige Latimer 23), Flathead 23 (Emily Russell 11); Blocks - Glacier 6 (Tiffany Marks 4), Flathead 6 (Kwyn Johnson 3, Danika Johnson 3); Digs - Glacier 45 (Rachel Cutler 10), Flathead 52 (Sackett 9, Russell 9), Aces - Glacier 13 (Rachel Cutler 6), Flathead 6 (Timi Severson 3).