Glacier edges Flathead

The Glacier Wolfpack volleyball team is still racking up the ‘firsts.'

It checked off another one on Thursday night - a home victory over the Flathead Bravettes.

The Wolfpack (4-0, 2-0) gave up a two sets to none lead, but rallied in the fifth set to claim the match.

Scores were 25-18, 26-24, 21-25, 21-25, 15-9.

"Getting that first one at home was important to these seniors," said Wolfpack coach Christy Harkins.

"That was one of the goals for tonight."

But giving up a two-set lead had Harkins shaking her head.

"It's part of the game. It sounds silly ... but how do you battle through a lead? I've been coaching for a long time and it's not a new phenomenon," she said.

"It's a battle and it's something to learn."

"We lost our fire and a little bit of communication out there," said Glacier's senior libero Cami Mathison.

"I was just hoping we could come back," she said.

The Wolfpack battled from behind well - it rallied to win the second set after trailing 22-17. It battled back from being down 12-4 in the third game and trailed much of the fourth game as well.

"(The rally) was just too late in those other games," Harkins said.

Flathead coach Leon Wilcox was shaking his head as well.

"Our game wasn't very sharp the whole night. Our passing was poor and so was our floor defense," he said.

"In sets three and four the intensity picked up, the aggressiveness picked up, which helped compensate for the lack of passing and defense," he said.

But game five, "I felt like we choked. We had way too many unforced errors. You can't do that ... if you are going to compete," Wilcox said.

During the three-minute interval between sets three and four, Harkins reemphasized the importance of every point in the final game and also talked about being aggressive.

"Aggressiveness doesn't just mean swinging to kill the ball. It means stepping up to pass the ball, it means serving to cause trouble on the other side," she said.

Flathead missed two serves, was in the net once, blocked one Glacier kill out of bounds and was whistled twice for double hits.

And with those mistakes, the match slid more and more toward the Wolfpack.

"When we got up 13-9, I knew that was it - we were going to finish it," Mathison said.

Lexy Boschee led the Wolfpack effort with 11 kills. Rachel Cutler added 10 and Cassidy Hashley nine. Mathison had 35 of Glacier's 94 digs and Tiffany Marks had six blocks.

"I was really impressed with our kids that came off the bench. I thought Baylee Quay came in and did a good job, Kendra (Bouley) passed the ball very well. I thought Paige (Latimer) did a good job. She made some good decisions," Harkins added.

Flathead's Hannah Sackett led all in kills with 14. Danika Johnson had nine blocks and Sarah Aylor had 20 digs.

The Bravettes (2-1, 0-1) will need to bounce back quickly. They play host to Missoula Hellgate tonight.

"Hopefully, we'll get a little fired up and decide to take it out on Hellgate," the coach said.

"If they can flush this and get ready to compete, we'll be fine," he added.

Glacier will be at Helena on Saturday afternoon.

Kills - Flathead 38 (Hannah Sackett 14, Cassie Krueger 8), Glacier 47 (Lexy Boschee 11, Rachel Cutler 10, Cassidy Hashley 9); Assists - Flathead 35 (Alison Lunde 22), Glacier 44 (Paige Latimer 44); Digs - Flathead 57 (Sarah Aylor 20), Glacier 94 (Cami Mathison 35); Blocks - Flathead 18 (Danika Johnson 9, Timi Severson 8), Glacier 12 (Tiffany Marks 6); Aces - Flathead 12 (Lunde 3), Glacier 8 (Latimer 4).