Wolfpack roll by Big Sky in Western AA volleyball
<p>Glacier's Kylie Peck (3) and Shelbi Kusler celebrate winning the second set Thursday night during Glacier's Western AA home volleyball victory over Missoula Big Sky.</p>
<p>Wolfpack junior Tessa Krueger spikes the ball Thursday night during Glacier's Western AA home volleyball match with Missoula Big Sky.</p>
The Glacier volleyball team returned to its winning ways with a 25-14, 25-14, 25-19 win over Missoula Big Sky Thursday at Glacier High School.
The Wolfpack lost a nonconference match to Lake City (Coeur d’Alene, Idaho) on Saturday but had no problem in its return to conference play. Tessa Krueger blasted 11 kills, Brielle Bumgarner added nine and Cassi Hashley tallied three blocks as Glacier (12-2 overall, 6-0 Western AA) remained unbeaten against Western AA opponents.
Big Sky (2-12, 0-7) hasn’t fared well this season, but Hashley said the loss to Lake City taught the Wolfpack not to overlook anyone.
“We learned to play hard every game, no matter what we’ve heard about them,” she said.
While Glacier controlled much of the match, Big Sky made it interesting midway through the second set. Glacier raced ahead 13-7 before making five errors in a nine-point stretch that cut its lead to one and forced Glacier coach coach Christy Harkins to take a timeout.
“My message was quit making errors,” Harkins said. “I said that we were controlling the match in a negative way and we needed to control the match in a positive way.”
Glacier responded with a 10-0 run. Outside hitter Katie Wiley smashed a kill through Big Sky’s block to make it 16-14, then Kylie Peck came off the bench and served nine consecutive points.
“At that point in the game we were hitting a lull, and I knew that we needed to pick it up,” Peck said. “So I got the serving mentality that I needed to make these serves, but I needed to make them count, so I served aggressive, but made them.”
The first set was all Glacier as the Wolfpack’s hitters teed off on free balls and its back row made setter Hannah Liss’ job easy. A 7-1 run late in the set made it 23-11 and Wiley clinched it five points later with a kill from the left side.
The Wolfpack also controlled the third set from start to finish. Glacier won the first six points and led by as many as nine before Big Sky went on a 6-1 run to make it 22-18. Krueger pounded two kills to bring up match point and Atlee ended it with a kill from the left side.
“A lot of different kids stepped up,” Harkins said. “Kylie Peck did an excellent job tonight on defense and serve receive. I thought when we needed our serves to go in we started making them, and we had a little better focus.”
Glacier outhit Big Sky 40-20 and had a 5-2 edge in blocks. Liss had 34 of Glacier’s 36 assists and Atlee and Shelbi Kusler led the Wolfpack with eight digs apiece. Baumgardner led Big Sky with eight kills.
“I’m just really happy that we came out of the first half of our conference 6-0,” Peck said. “It’s a great start to our season and I’m excited to finish the last half.”
Glacier is off until Thursday when it hosts crosstown-rival Flathead. The Wolfpack won in three sets when the two Kalispell schools met on Sept. 24.
Kills - Big Sky 20 (Lexi Baumgardner 8), Glacier 40 (Tessa Krueger 11, Brielle Bumgarner 9). Assists - Big Sky 16 (Maddie Winz 9), Glacier 36 (Hannah Liss 34). Aces - Big Sky 3, Glacier 10 (Kayla Russell 3). Blocks - Big Sky 2 (Anna Gragg 2), Glacier 5 (Cassi Hashley 3). Digs - Big Sky 48 (Winz 12), Glacier 39 (Hannah Atlee 8, Shelbi Kusler 8).