Bravettes spill Wolfpack

One block. One huge gut-wrenching yell - and one big turnaround.

Everything changed for the Flathead Bravettes on one play on Thursday night.

Before a packed house, trailing the Glacier Wolfpack two sets and down 8-2 in the third game, the wheels appeared as if they were about to come off the Flathead volleyball wagon.

But Bravette Cassie Krueger won the joust at the net and smacked a cross-court kill.

The screech she let out lit a fire -and brought the Bravettes back from the brink of extinction. Flathead (7-4, 3-2) went on to claim a 24-26, 19-25, 25-20, 25-10, 16-14 crosstown victory at Glacier (4-5, 2-2).

"Cassie went up with one hand and stuffed that ball ... and she came down fired up, got the team fired up and I don't think we lost the momentum from that point on. It was a major turning point," said Flathead coach Leon Wilcox.

"Really it was just instinct play, but it really pumped all of us up, I think," Krueger said.

"The girls got excited. Everybody has a way they need to contribute for us to be successful. Cassie's is her passion. The girls feed off that," Wilcox said.

"It really picks us up," agreed right-side hitter Kwyn Johnson.

"It is so intense and it makes you feel so good when you do something right. You just want to do it over and over," she said.

"That was the most intense game of volleyball I've ever played. It was so fun," she added.

"We started off a little slow, but we picked it up. Our intensity was what made the difference," she said.

"The team kept up with the momentum and everything just rolled with us. No matter what bad play happened, we knew we were good enough as a team," Krueger said.

"Hannah (Sackett) followed that up by taking control everywhere on the court. I think she was inspired and she made the decision she was going to take (control). And everybody just kept playing up," Wilcox said.

Sackett led all hitters with 20 kills. She also had 18 digs and served nine aces.

Her serving was huge in sets four and five. In set four she served eight straight points, including four aces. In set five, it was seven straight as the Bravettes rallied from an early deficit.

"Hannah was amazing. She was swinging hard and swinging smart. I give her a lot of credit picking us up," Krueger added.

Johnson contributed a career-high 18 kills. Alison Lunde added 19 assists and 15 digs and Emma Andrews had six blocks.

Lexy Boschee led Glacier with 17 kills. Cassidy Hashley had six blocks and Hannah Liss had 34 assists and three service aces.

Emily Gilbertson was the defensive leader with 22 digs.

The Wolfpack left the court counting missed opportunities.

"I was proud of our competitiveness in games 1 and 2 - even the beginning of game 3," said Glacier coach Christy Harkins.

"(The Wolfpack) had the momentum. They were more enthusiastic. They played more passionately than we did. Our game suffered because of that," Wilcox said.

"They were aggressive on defense and we weren't. We watched too many things hit the floor in those first two games," he said.

"We had great opportunities in set three. We did not step up and compete," Harkins said.

"Little hesitation. There was a little doubt out on the court and a lot of things start to struggle ... passing, offense, even serving becomes less aggressive," she said.

"I let (the Wolfpack team members) talk first (in the locker room). It's their team. It's their season. The things they said ... they were playing with some fear, playing not to lose.

"(The Bravettes) took advantage of the opportunity to compete," she said.

Glacier roared back in the fifth set as it rallied from an 11-5 deficit.

Flathead had three match points, but Glacier shrugged off all three and came up with a huge block to knot the set at 14-all.

But Timi Severson's kill gave Flathead another match point - and Glacier's last attack sailed long.

"We got a good block when we needed a big play and then couldn't really capitalize on it," Harkins said.

"But it doesn't come down to one ball. There were a lot of balls in the match we didn't play hard enough on," she said.

Kills - Flathead 53 (Hannah Sackett 20, Kwyn Johnson 18), Glacier 41 (Lexy Boschee 17); Assists - Flathead 50 (Emily Russell 29, Alison Lunde 19); Glacier 37 (Hannah Liss 34); Blocks - Flathead 10 (Emma Andrews 6); Glacier 9 (Cassidy Hashley 6); Digs - Flathead 89 (Sackett 18, Lunde 15); Glacier 53 (Emily Gilbertson 22); Aces - Flathead 17 (Sackett 9), Glacier 7 (Liss 3).