Glacier spikers get 1st home win over Sentinel

Lexy Boschee picked a great moment Saturday to play her best volleyball.

Through four sets, Glacier's senior outside hitter had endured what she called a "down" day in a rough week, managing four kills.

But in set five, when the Wolfpack needed her the most, Boschee was right there with six kills as the Wolfpack (7-8, 4-4) got its first home court win over Missoula Sentinel - 25-15, 16-25, 25-10, 13-25, 22-20.

Boschee's biggest kill came just as the Wolfpack appeared to be about to be done - down 11-4.

She smacked a shot down the line that caromed off the arms of a Spartan defender and into the front row.

From that moment, what had been a roller coaster ride for both teams, was suddenly a fight.

"One big kill just sticks in your mind and you want to play like that the rest of the game," Boschee said.

"(Earlier in the match) I think we were playing afraid to lose. But we stepped up in game five and really played our hearts out," she added.

"We just weren't talking to each other. But once we started communicating to each other and played defense, it was awesome," said senior outside hitter Dayna Niebaum.

That kill put Niebaum on the service line - where she rattled off the next eight points to put the Wolfpack ahead 13-11.

But Sentinel didn't go away easily.

Between 13-12 in Glacier's favor and the 22-20 final, there were eight ties, one-match point for Sentinel and six Wolfpack match points.

Boschee ended the match when she tooled her final kill off the blocker's hands.

"It was a very interesting match, that's for sure. We dominated. They dominated. It wasn't close except for that last set," said Glacier coach Christy Harkins.

She blamed the roller coaster effect on the match being on Saturday afternoon.

"(Beating Sentinel at home) was important to me. You start to run out of legacies you can leave. I told these guys ‘you've got a chance to go get one here,'" Harkins said.

"Lexy came through strong at the end. That was very nice to see. I thought our middles (Cassidy Hashley and Tiffany Marks) did a really good job of setting her up for success at the end.

"We had so much success out of the middle ... (Sentinel) had to stay with them," the coach said.

Hashley led all hitters with 16 kills and Marks had five blocks.

"If you have Cassidy and Lexy in the front row, that's tough (for opponents)," Harkins said.

In the end, "the right thing went the right way," Harkins smiled.

Hannah Liss had 35 assists and served three aces. Boschee had 15 digs and Amy Snipstead added 13.

Kills - Sentinel 43 (Haley Druyvestein 10), Glacier 43 (Cassidy Hashley 16); Assists - Sentinel 36 (Maddie McCarthy), Glacier 36 (Hannah Liss 35), Blocks - Sentinel 6 (Druyvestein 4), Glacier 6 (Tiffany Marks 5); Digs - Sentinel 53 (Kimmy Kavran 19), Glacier 65 (Lexy Boschee 15, Amy Snipstead 13); Aces - Sentinel 8 (Sadie Ahearn 5), Glacier 8 (Liss 3).