Bravettes ousted by Bozeman in AA state volleyball
BOZEMAN - It wasn't the way they wanted to go out - not by a long shot.
The Flathead Bravettes will be kicking themselves for their slow starts at the All-Class State Volleyball Tournament.
They'll be thinking about missed chances for some time to come.
Hopefully, they will also remember how hard they fought.
Bozeman defeated Flathead 25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 29-27 in Friday afternoon's loser-out contest. The Bravettes finished 1-2 at the tournament.
Hannah Sackett had 13 kills and 18 digs, Timi Severson had eight blocks and Kwyn Johnson added nine kills for Flathead.
"They fought hard, especially in that fourth game when we were down 11-1. They really turned it around, turned it on," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.
"It was a little bit too late, but I'm still proud of their effort," he said.
"It's not how we wanted to end the season. It was not the goal, obviously. I'm sure (the Bravettes) feel like they fell short, but hopefully they don't have any regrets. Hopefully they can look back on the season and see it was a success," he said.
Oh, how they fought.
Flathead dropped the third set and was down 11-1 in the fourth almost before it got started.
The Bravettes climbed slowly to a 20-13 deficit and then turned the serve over to senior setter Alison Lunde.
"She went back and served and she let her team know she was not going to give up and she wasn't going to accept them giving up. They were going to do it. It was a total team effort, but when Alison went back to serve her last time, I think that was the biggest turnaround," Wilcox said.
Flathead trailed by seven points when Lunde got the serve. When she was done, the set was tied at 21-all.
"She let them know she was going to fight all the way to the end. I think it really charged them up," the coach said.
So much so, that Flathead had three set points. It couldn't convert any of them, however, and Bozeman was able to reclaim the set and the victory.
"We had our chances, but they weren't mistakes that they made for not trying. They tried hard," Wilcox said.
"I'm proud of the whole team. It was a good season. I enjoyed it. We're going to miss the seniors. They did a good job and provided a lot of leadership for us this year. Hopefully, the returning kids learned a lot and they'll feel they have some motivation to come back and do better next year," he said.
"The returning kids have to find a way to bring that all the time. I credit our seniors (Sackett, Lunde, Kylie Schlegel and Kylee Schoepf) for really bringing that competitive desire at the end, that will to win, that desire to not give in," Wilcox said.
"Give credit to Bozeman. They came out hard and they played hard. They were aggressive. It's the best I've seen them play this season. I haven't seen them a lot, but that was definitely the best I've seen out of them. They were tough and they played to win," Wilcox said.
Bozeman def. Flathead
25-16, 21-25, 25-23, 29-27
Kills - Bozeman 44 (Ahlea Billis 12), Flathead 42 (Hannah Sackett 13, Kwyn Johnson 9), Assists - Bozeman 41 (Kennedy Carpenter 25), Flathead 38 (Emily Russell 22, Alison Lunde 15), Blocks - Bozeman 13 (Rachel Astrup 7), Flathead 14 (Timi Severson 8, Emma Andrews 5), Digs - Bozeman 70 (Billis 21), Flathead 84 (Sackett 18, Andrews 18), Aces - Bozeman 13 (Hanna Mackie 5), Flathead 6 (Lunde 3, Russell 2).