Flathead, Glacier primed for crosstown volleyball match

You can always count on one thing when Flathead and Glacier tangle on the volleyball court — high-level action.

“Definitely good volleyball in the Valley,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said.

“It will be a great atmosphere. The matches are almost always close.”

“Seems that way, doesn’t it,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said of the tight battles.

And if that wasn’t enough ...

“Kalispell does produce some good volleyball players,” Wilcox said.

Three of those players are currently at Division I schools — Hannah Sackett at West Virginia, Kwyn Johnson at Arizona State and Cassie Krueger at Montana State.

“We have kids who are committed and hard working,” Wilcox said of the volleyball tradition here. “They have put in a lot of time ... a lot of dedication in the offseason.”

Just like last year, and previous years, both teams are sitting high in the Western AA division standings heading into the first crosstown contest tonight at Flathead.

Regarding the rankings, Glacier holds the No. 2 spot this week. Flathead, tied for fifth last week, is unranked in this week’s voting by league coaches.

Records — Glacier is 3-0 league, 9-1 overall; Flathead is 2-1 and 4-4.

Flathead has won both regular-season crosstown matchups the last two years to take an 8-4 lead in the series, which is now in its seventh year.

The two schools split in 2010.

“I think this is the best Glacier team I’ve ever seen, in my opinion,” Wilcox said.

“They’re big, they’re tall, they will put up a big block, will have a lot of offense. I think we can counter that with some of our defense.”

Glacier has a pair of talented hitters in Cassi Hashley, a 6-foot-1 senior, and Tessa Krueger, 6-0 junior. This is Hashley’s fourth year on varsity. For Krueger, it’s her first.

“Lots of offense,” Harkins said of what to expect. “Both teams have firepower.”

Flathead also has some outstanding talent along with net with Emma Andrews, a 5-8 senior, and Timi Severson, a 6-0 senior.

“Doing a great job, adapting well to playing the outside,” Wilcox said of Andrews.

“A very dynamic player, very fast ... her speed is hard to keep up with.”

Wilcox is pleased with how his back row is performing, “most noteably Iris Matulevich and Nouf Al-Rashoodi.

“They have done a good job of captaining the back row,” he said of the two seniors.

Wilcox says Jessica Simmons, a 5-7 junior, “is adapting well to setting varsity in the 5-1. She gets better every week.”

The one concern Harkins has entering this match is how her team will open play.

The Wolfpack lost the first set to Helena High on Friday and the first two sets the next day versus Helena Capital. The Wolfpack did win both matches.

Flathead split with those schools over the weekend.

“We’re not getting out of the gate, starting strong,” she said. “It’s nice to have that battle-back mentality, but I wish we would quit getting in a hole. I’d like to start stronger.”

With Glacier having to play five matches in a nine-day stretch, which ends Saturday in Idaho, Harkins said the team just focused on serving, passing and defense during Monday’s practice.

“We wanted to save our legs a little bit,” she said.

Tonight’s match begins at 7.

“It will be a pretty typical crosstown match,” Wilcox said. “Loud crowd and should be a lot of fun.

“You have to be careful because you don’t want them to be too wound up with the attention and excitement that comes with playing the crosstown.”

Flathead and Glacier will play again on Oct. 10 at Glacier.