Volleyball: Bravettes 3rd in Crossover Classic

SPOKANE, Wash. - The teams at the Crossover Classic volleyball tournament may not have known anything about the Flathead Bravettes before Saturday's tournament, but it's a cinch to say they'll definitely remember the Bravettes for next year.

Flathead placed third at the 64-team tournament. West Valley of Yakima won it, Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma was second and Mt. Spokane of Spokane was fourth.

Flathead didn't have a great start, however.

Freeman, Wash., defeated the Bravettes in the first match of the day 25-18, 25-19. But Flathead bounced back to win the next four.

"We had a little soul searching after our morning loss," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.

"They had a little soul searching and they turned things around and had a fantastic rest of the morning. They came out and played their brains out and did a great job.

"They're disappointed they didn't get first and that's because they had a shot at it," he said.

"I think it was a good learning experience. I'm very proud of how they played. I'm proud of them," he said.

In pool play, the Bravettes beat Richland, Wash., 25-19, 26-24 and Moscow, Idaho. 25-22, 25-13.

That put them into the platinum bracket.

They opened with Prairie High (Vancouver, Wash.) and won 25-22, 22-25, 15-5. They defeated Post Falls, Idaho, 17-25, 25-22, 15-10 to get into the final four, where they met Bellarmine Prep of Tacoma. Bellarmine won 31-29, 25-11.

That put Flathead into the third-fourth place match against Mt. Spokane - a one-game match to 25, which they won 25-22.

"It was a very good showing," the coach said.

"Everybody contributed. It was a solid team effort."

Flathead is off now until Oct. 20 when it goes to Helena.

"It was really good for us to play a lot of teams we don't usually see. There's no scouting. They didn't know anything about us. It was a very good weekend for us," Wilcox said.