AA state volleyball: Bengals eliminate Bravettes
BOZEMAN — The Flathead Bravettes finally ran out of magic.
A day after twice rallying from a set down to beat Bozeman 3-2, the Bravettes trailed Helena two sets to none on Friday at the Class AA state volleyball tournament at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
Flathead fought back to force a fifth set but didn’t react fast enough to a change in strategy and saw its season come to an end, with Helena winning by a 25-18, 25-22, 19-25, 23-25, 15-10 scoreline.
After funneling most of its offense though middle hitters Jenna Starke and Regan Fruh the first four sets, Helena began tipping instead of swinging and it had success finding the floor behind Flathead’s blockers.
“They totally went away from hitting, so I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t adjust,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said.
“Because we had been picking up all of their stuff for most of that match, so it was a bad time to start letting it hit the floor.”
Flathead led the fifth set 6-5 when a tip by Starke evened the score. Kills by Flathead hitters Timi Severson and Lizzie Sherwood helped the Bravettes gain 9-7 lead when a lift called against Flathead and a block by Fruh once again knotted the score. Helena won six of the next seven points, with three coming on tips and pushes, to close out the match.
“We’ve been watching them this tournament and that’s something they’ve been doing a lot, so we knew that was something we had to watch out for,” Flathead libero Iris Matulevich said.
Flathead outside hitter Emma Andrews said the loss came down to not getting the right bounces.
“It wasn’t like we weren’t playing hard or anything like that,” she said.
“Things weren’t really falling our way. They were going off hands so there’s not really much we can do about that.”
While the Bravettes went the distance with Bozeman and played four sets in a loss to Billings Senior a day earlier, Wilcox said he didn’t think fatigue played a role in his team’s slow start. Flathead’s offense simply didn’t get on track until its back was against the wall.
“Our offense just wasn’t getting it done,” Wilcox said. “Our passing has been solid all weekend. I loved how the back row did. They passed the ball great, they played fantastic defense. I’ve got some kids that played like all-state back row players and that was nice to see. Just offensively I think we were a little bit up and down.”
That changed in the third set when Severson took a huge swing and hammered a kill on the very first point.
Severson finished with a match-high 18 kills, while Sherwood and Sarah Risenhoover each had 12. Starke led Helena with 16 and the Bengals edged the Bravettes 51-50 in total kills.
Severson also had a match-high seven blocks and Matulevich and Andrews led all players with 23 digs apiece.
The loss ended a season in which Flathead finished second in the Western AA conference, advanced to the state tournament for a 11th consecutive year and finished the regular season fourth in the Class AA coaches poll.
“We accomplished a lot of our goals and we can’t leave here with our heads down even though the outcome of this tournament didn’t really go in our favor,” Andrews said. “We definitely had a good season.”
Added Wilcox: “There’s a lot of positive things we can leave the season with. There shouldn’t be any regrets. They definitely accomplished a lot.”
Kills - Helena 51 (Jenna Starke 16, Alicia Norling 13), Flathead 50 (Timi Severson 18, Lizzie Sherwood 12, Sarah Risenhoover 12). Assists - Helena 44 (Maddie Richtmeyer 41), Flathead 49 (Jessica Simmons 48). Aces - Helena 7 (Norling 3), Flathead 9 (Iris Matulevich 3, Nouf Rashoodi 2, Sherwood 2). Blocks - Helena 11 (Regan Fruh 5, Starke 3, Savanah Swanson 3), Flathead 13 (Severson 7). Digs - Helena 82 (Swanson 21, Laura Jo Fiorita 18), Flathead 81 (Matulevich 23, Emma Andrews 23).