Crosstown volleyball: Wolfpack in five over Flathead

Neither team gave in, but it was Glacier that eventually prevailed in a five-set, nail-biting volleyball match against Flathead (11-8 overall, 6-3 Western AA) Thursday evening at Glacier High School.

The Wolfpack (13-2, 7-0) edged out the final set to win 25-18, 34-36, 25-23, 18-25, 15-9, completing a regular-season sweep of its crosstown rivals for the first time in school history.

Each team refused to go away in the tight match, never more apparent than the record-setting second set.

Glacier fought off a late rally by the Bravettes to win the first set with relative ease, but couldn’t find that space in the second. The Wolfpack led by eight points early and opened up five point leads three other times in the set, but faced a tenacious Flathead side. Trailing 22-17, the Bravettes scored eight of the next 10 points, fighting off three game points to take a 25-24 advantage.

The two teams battled, playing some of the best volleyball all season as each tried desperately to close out the set. Glacier fought off seven game points and Flathead three before Flathead was finally able to finish the set and even the match, with Emma Andrews shutting the door with an ace to win the set 36-34, the longest set ever played at Glacier.

“When I think of crosstown that’s what I think of,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said.

“Knock down, drag out, bam, bam, back and forth, back and forth the whole set.”

“We had to keep fighting,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said.

“That’s what we’ve got. We have that. We’re capable of doing that.”

Glacier avoided another long set in the third, winning the last two points, capped by a Hannah Liss ace to close the set before extra points.

Flathead showed its strength in the fourth, leaping out to a 12-3 lead on the powerful right arm of Timi Severson, who finished the match with a match-high 22 kills. The Bravettes scored seven of the final eight points after a Glacier rally to even the match again and set up a decisive fifth set.

Flathead scored the first two points of the set, but Glacier’s Tessa Krueger began to find her form on the left side. Krueger had five kills in the decisive frame, helping the ’Pack out to a 9-3 lead in the set.

“She’d been pretty quiet all night long,” Harkins said.

“Flathead did a good job of blocking against her, defending against her. She really came to life there in set 5.”

Coupled with six errors from the Bravettes, Glacier cruised in the final set, capping the match on a kill from Katie Wiley, who had been burning Flathead all night from the outside, finishing with a team-high 14 kills.

Hannah Atlee led the Wolfpack with 20 digs, Cassi Hashley had a team-high seven blocks and Liss had five aces and 41 assists.

“Katie had a great match,” Harkins said. “She played all the way around very well for us. Her net play was great: great blocking, very aggressive attacking as well. I thought she played really good defense today too.”

Andrews led Flathead with 29 digs and had the winning point in each of the Bravettes winning sets. Sarah Risenhoover had six blocks, Jessica Simmons had 41 assists and Lizzie Sherwood four aces to lead Flathead.

“It didn’t end the way we wanted to, but it was definitely a battle,” Wilcox said. “That’s what we want to have at a crosstown, both teams brought a lot of game.

“The beginning and the end of the match is what got us. We started out with a ton of unforced errors, I don’t think we played intense enough. We picked it up. It was a battle. Then, that last game we had a lot of unforced errors, a lot of hitting errors. That gave them the momentum and we just couldn’t quite recover from it.”

Glacier remains undefeated in conference, pulling the all-time series to 9-6 for Flathead.

“We knew every point mattered and that the team that came out aggressive was going to win,” Hashley said. “It feels amazing.”

The Bravettes fall a game behind in the loss column to Helena Captial and Helena High for second place, but are primed for a strong close to the season after a great performance against the conference’s top team.

“I can see it and I know they’ve got it,” Wilcox said.

“What they need to do is grab on to that and use that every time we’re out on the floor. If we can do that from beginning to end, we’re going to have a fantastic finish to our season, I don’t have any doubt.”

Glacier hosts Missoula Sentinel on Saturday to try to maintain its undefeated record.

The Bravettes entertain Missoula Hellgate on Tuesday in their next contest.

Glacier def. Flathead

25-18, 34-36, 25-23, 18-25, 15-9

Kills — Flathead 47 (Timi Severson 22), Glacier 50 (Katie Wiley 14). Assists — Flathead 41 (Jessica Simmons 41), Glacier 43 (Hannah Liss 41). Digs — Flathead 84 (Emma Andrews 29), Glacier 73 (Hannah Atlee 20). Blocks — Flathead 8 (Sarah Risenhoover 6), Glacier 14 (Cassi Hashley 7). Aces — Flathead 8 (Lizzie Sherwood 4), Glacier 13 (Liss 5).