Glacier sweeps crosstown volleyball series with Flathead
<p>Glacier libero Hailee Bennett celebrates a point during the Wolfpack's 3-1 victory against the Bravettes at Flathead High School on Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier's Nikki Krueger (23) celebrates after getting a kill against Flathead in crosstown volleyball Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier's Katie Wiley (18) blasts the ball past Flathead's Jordyn Clare in the Wolfpack's 3-1 victory. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
The Glacier Wolfpack tied the overall crosstown volleyball series at eight games a piece, defeating the Flathead Bravettes on the road in four games in an intense match for a Western AA victory on Thursday night.
Sweeping the season series, Glacier didn’t let Flathead past 16 points in the rivals’ first meeting of the season. The second time around was a different test.
After taking the first set 25-18, Glacier (18-1 overall, 7-0 Western AA) dropped the second by five points as Bravettes middle blockers Tianna Johnson and Xio Lopp were hip-to-hip on nearly every Wolfpack attack, blocking Glacier hitters Tessa Krueger and Katie Wiley.
“I thought we did really well. We fought a lot harder than the first match,” Flathead senior setter Jessica Simmons said.
“I think Tianna and Xio put up a huge block in the front row. Having them up there is incredible. Not having our back row pass as many balls and having those two stop hitters really slows down the other team and gives us more momentum.”
Johnson finished with a match-high six blocks.
The third set was the closest of the night. Flathead took an early 2-0 lead, but after four lead changes the Bravettes called a timeout, trailing 22-17. From there they rallied within two points, forcing a Glacier timeout, and after the break they tied the set a 23.
The Wolfpack called their second timeout of the set, and after a Flathead error, Wiley scored the 25th point with a massive spike that sent the Wolfpack bench into a frenzy.
“(Flathead) committed to blocking Katie and decide to stop her,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said.
“They did a very good job with that so Katie had to change up her game a little bit and I thought she did really well with that. She worked some different shots and ran a couple different attacks.”
Wiley finished with 15 of the Wolfpack’s 51 kills and tallied five blocks.
The Bravettes (7-10, 4-5) looked poised to push the match to a tie-breaking set, leading the fourth set of the night by eight points — Simmons set up a Lopp spike before two consecutive aces from Jourdon Schultz and Flathead had a 12-4 lead.
Then came the resurgence of Krueger.
The Wolfpack clawed back, and Krueger nailed three straight kills. After two big spikes she wound up for another, only to dink it gently to the floor and give Glacier a 19-16 advantage.
From there Glacier went into cruise control, winning 25-20 to remain undefeated in conference play.
Krueger totaled a match-high 19 kills.
“Credit to Glacier. Their offense was the difference,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said.
“Their front row, their block, mostly their hitting, they had a few more weapons than we did. I thought both teams played hard. There was a lot of energy. It was fun.”
Glacier def. Flathead
25-18, 20-25, 25-23, 25-20
Kills — Glacier 51 (Tessa Krueger 19, Katie Wiley 15), Flathead 42 (Lizzie Sherwood 12). Assists — Glacier 39 (Hannah Liss 38), Flathead 37 (Xio Lopp 20). Digs — Glacier 67 (Hailee Bennett 23), Flathead 56 (Abbie O’Brien 25). Blocks — Glacier 9 (Wiley 5, Nikki Krueger 4), Flathead 13 (Tianna Johnson 6). Aces — Glacier 9 (Kayla Russell 3), Flathead 7 (Jourdon Schultz 3, O’Brien 3).