Volleyball: Flathead falls in 5 to Helena High

Helena High handed Flathead its first conference loss in a 5-set Western AA volleyball match Saturday at Flathead High School.

The Bravettes fought off three consecutive match points before Helena middle blocker Regan Fruh put down a kill to give the Bengals a 13-25, 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13 victory.

Flathead outhit Helena 56-37, but the Bravettes’ passing errors and mental mistakes in the middle sets proved costly.

“I think that our defense wasn’t as good in the games that we lost,” Flathead outside hitter Emma Andrews said. “Also our intensity, we need to play to what we’re capable of and I don’t think we really did that today.”

Flathead (4-4 overall, 2-1 Western AA) raced ahead 8-2 in the final set before Helena (5-5, 3-1) won six of the next seven points to cut its deficit to one. Andrews appeared to halt the Helena run with a kill, but the officials ruled Jessica Simmons’ set was an illegal back-row attack.

“She was trying to set it with one hand,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said. “The ref said she was directing it into their court.

“That was kind of a shift in momentum right there.”

The call knotted the score at 9 and Helena won five of the next six points to set up match point. Back-to-back kills by Flathead’s Lizzie Sherwood and Timi Severson followed by a block from Xio Lopp cut the deficit to one, but Fruh pounded her ninth kill of the match on the next point to end it.

“Helena played hard,” Wilcox said. “I don’t think their block was a factor, but I just think they played great defense.”

Flathead looked on its way to an quick victory after a dominant win in the first set and a 4-0 lead in the second, but its passing began to break down and Helena evened the second set at 9. A kill by Severson and back-to-back aces by Sherwood helped Flathead pull ahead 16-10, but Helena won 11 of the next 13 points, including a 7-0 run on Lacey Lindenfeld’s serve, to take a 21-18 lead. The Bengals closed out the set with three consecutive points.

“The passing did drop,” Wilcox said. “It seemed like, I don’t know, like they lost some focus, because that’s one of our strengths. Our passing and our defense, and I think we kind of let up in that area and then we got in our heads after that happened. Most of those errors were mental errors.”

Helena never trailed in the third set and led much of the fourth until Severson sparked a Flathead rally. The senior middle blocker smashed four kills in a 5-2 run that knotted the set at 18. Andrews added three kills from the left side to put Flathead ahead 21-19 and the Bravettes hung on to force the fifth set.

Andrews finished with a match-high 23 kills and 21 digs. Simmons had 51 of Flathead’s 52 assists and Severson tallied five of the Bravettes’ seven blocks.

Fruh and Jenna Starke each pounded nine kills to lead Helena and setter Madison Richtmeyer had 30 assists. Fuh had five blocks.

“I thought we had some great efforts,” Wilcox said. “I thought Emma did a fantastic job, she led us in killls, she led us in digs. And Timi did a great job at the net. We’ll be fine. We’ll bounce back. It’s early yet, we’ve just got to learn from these moments and get past them.”

Flathead hosts crosstown-rival Glacier on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Helena High def. Flathead 13-25, 25-20, 25-20, 22-25, 15-13

Kills - Helena 37 (Regan Fruh 9, Jenna Starke 9), Flathead 56 (Emma Andrews 23). Assists - 31 (Madison Richtmeyer 30), Flathead 52 (Jessica Simmons 51). Aces - Helena 11 (Lacey Lindenfeld 7), Flathead 9 (Lizzie Sherwood 3). Blocks - Helena 8 (Fruh 5), Flathead 7 (Timi Severson 5). Digs - Helena 61 (Laura Jo Fiorita 19), Flathead 87 (Andrews 21).