Crosstown volleyball: 'Pack sweeps Flathead
<p>Glacier junior Hannah Liss (2) jumps up and cheers during the first game of the Crosstown match up on Tuesday, September 24, at Flathead. Glacier won in three sets. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Flathead senior Emma Andrews (16) passes the ball during game two of the Crosstown match up against Glacier on Tuesday, September 24, at Flathead. Glacier won in three sets. (Brenda Ahearn/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The Glacier volleyball team rolled crosstown-rival Flathead in three sets, 25-18, 25-23, 25-17, to continue its unbeaten start in conference play Tuesday at Flathead High School.
Glacier (10-1 overall, 4-0 Western AA) never trailed in the first and third sets and was only briefly behind in the second as the Wolfpack’s offensive variety proved too much for Flathead (4-5, 2-2) to handle.
“I think we have a lot of offensive weapons at the net and it’s hard to match up with us every time,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said. “We were able to spread the ball around and give them a little bit of trouble with some of their smaller blockers. I think that gave us a little bit of an advantage.”
Setter Hannah Liss tallied all of Glacier’s 21 assists by keeping the ball away from Flathead’s block and allowing her hitters to take aim at the back row. Outside hitter Katie Wiley led the offense with nine kills, but Hannah Atlee and Tessa Krueger also gave the Wolfpack reliable options on the outside while Cassi Hashley and Brielle Bumgarner did most of their damage in the middle.
“We were trying to create holes in their block,” Liss said. “So Cassi will run behind and then we’ll just hit a fast ball out to Tessa or Katie to try to create a separation for a good hole.”
Flathead managed just three blocks, all by Sarah Risenhoover, and never got its defense on track.
“They had a lot of hitters coming from a lot of different directions, and our blockers were focused too much on the setter and not enough on their hitters,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said. “I think we got distracted. Their setter did a very good job of spreading the ball around, throwing our middles off, so we didn’t get a lot of opportunities to block.”
Glacier never trailed in a nervy opening set filled with service errors on both sides. After falling behind 5-0, Flathead forced a tie at 8, but a tip from Liss and a block by Wiley helped Glacier regain the lead. A Liss ace gave the Wolfpack a 21-16 edge later in the set and Glacier closed it out by winning three consecutive points on an Atlee kill, a Kylie Peck ace and a Hashley tip.
Flathead led by as many as five points in the second set and Harkins called a timeout with her team trailing 14-9. Glacier responded with a 5-0 run to knot it up and kills from Wiley and Atlee a few points later gave the Wolfpack a lead. The Bravettes fought back to tie the set at 22 and kills from Hashley and Flathead’s Emma Andrews forced another tie at 23. A four-hit violation against Flathead brought up set point for Glacier and Wiley put it away with a kill that landed just in front of a diving Andrews.
Glacier never trailed in the third set, but didn’t pull away until a 5-0 run on Krueger’s serve put the Wolfpack ahead 20-14. Glacier then won five of the final seven points, ending it with an Atlee kill that ricocheted off Flathead’s back row and into the crowd.
The win was Glacier’s first against Flathead since 2010. Flathead beat Glacier in all three of last year’s meetings, including a five-setter at the Class AA state tournament.
“We were more focused this week in practice and we came out wanting it,” Liss said. “We really want to win our conference this season, so we’re really determined to win out from here in our conference. We haven’t beat Flathead in a couple years, so I think we all really wanted to.”
Wiley and Bumgarner each finished with three blocks and Hashley had a team-high nine digs.
The loss was the second in a row for Flathead, which lost to Helena High in five sets on Saturday.
“Right now we’re just fighting ourselves as far as communication, intensity, playing like a team,” Wilcox said. “Because they’ve got the stuff, they’re just not putting it together. I think they started the match looking a little timid and unsure and then they turned it around and did get better, but then we dropped again. It seems like we let the other team’s points get in our head.”
Timi Severson led the Bravettes with 12 kills. Setter Jessica Simmons tallied 24 of the team’s 27 assists and Nouf Al-Rashoodi had a match-high 11 digs.
Glacier will look to remain unbeaten in Western AA when it takes on Sentinel in Missoula on Thursday. Flathead plays Hellgate in Missoula on Thursday.
Kills - Glacier 30 (Katie Wiley 9), Flathead 29 (Timi Severson 12). Assists - Glacier 21 (Hannah Liss 21), Flathead 27 (Jessica Simmons 24). Aces - Glacier 8 (Liss 3), Flathead 5 (Lizzie Sherwood 3). Blocks - Glacier 6 (Wiley 3, Brielle Bumgarner 3), Flathead 3 (Sarah Risenhoover 3). Digs - Glacier 44 (Cassi Hashley 9), Flathead 48 (Nouf Al-Rashoodi 11).