Volleyball: Glacier goes 12-0, again
After an emotional senior day program before the match, it took Glacier some time to work into its final home volleyball match of the season. Once it did, the Wolfpack dominated, holding Missoula Big Sky to 16 kills as a team in a three-set Western AA victory 25-20, 25-10, 25-17 on Thursday evening.
The win finished out the second consecutive perfect conference season for the Wolfpack and clinched the team a bye into the state tournament on Nov. 13-15 in Bozeman.
The Wolfpack didn’t play like one of the top teams in the state early on. Still seemingly distracted from an emotional senior night ceremony minutes before the match for seven of its players, Glacier made four errors in the game’s first 12 points, allowing Big Sky to take a 7-5 lead.
“We were pretty emotional,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said.
“We were a lot more teary-eyed than I thought we’d be. I think we had a little trouble seeing there for a few minutes in game one.”
Behind a strong serving performance, Glacier eventually composed itself enough to rally off five straight points to take a 19-13 lead. Another string of errors helped the Eagles to narrow the lead to 23-20 before the Wolfpack nailed the set shut on kills from seniors Katie Wiley and Tessa Krueger.
The jitters behind them, Glacier showed its strength in the second set, landing nine aces and allowing Big Sky just two kills.
“We played much more aggressive, we played fast in that game,” Harkins said.
The error bug rose up again in the third set, Glacier committing three in the first four points and four in the first eight, before eventually going on a 6-1 rally to take a 13-7 lead. The Wolfpack led 23-15 and finished the set with a Krueger kill and a ninth ace from Kayla Russell.
Krueger finished with a match-high 14 kills and Hailee Bennett had 14 of Glacier’s 44 digs. Russell’s nine aces and Wiley’s two blocks were also match highs.
The win marked the 26th straight regular season conference victory for Glacier (23-1 overall, 12-0 Western AA), which swept the league for the second straight year.
“That’s what they were playing for tonight,” Harkins said.
“There was a little pride in that. That was important to them. As we’ve seen at the state tournament it doesn’t mean anything if we don’t take it with us and decide we’re going to do something there.
“But, I think it’s a great accomplishment for these guys.”
The Wolfpack earned a bye into the state tournament with its conference championship, and will use the time to clean up some of the mistakes that could cost the team a shot at the state title.
“They have a chip on their shoulder knowing that they didn’t perform as well as they should have [at the state tournament last season],” Harkins said.
“They need to get after it. I think there will be some motivation going in this year and a strong understanding of what they need to do and how hard the work is once you get to the state tournament.”
The biggest area of focus will be the costly errors that allowed the final match of the season to be close at times. Glacier committed 28 errors in its match against Big Sky, including 13 from the serving line.
“We’re going to work hard, cleaning up some things, working on our competition, definitely cleaning up some service errors,” Harkins said.
“Cleaning up a few things we have to work on. But, we’re going to get after it.”
Glacier has been dominant this season, dropping only one match, a two-setter to Billings Senior at the Electric City Invitational early in the year. The errors could be costly in a tournament with so many quality teams.
“We control the game a lot, good and bad,” Harkins said.
“When we’re on we’re controlling it in a positive way. When we make the errors, we’re definitely controlling in a negative way. Those are things we’re definitely going to work on this week so we can control the match in a positive way.”
Glacier def. Big Sky,
25-20, 25-10, 25-17
Kills — Big Sky 16 (Kiley Snow 6), Glacier 42 (Tessa Krueger 14). Assists — Big Sky 16 (Carly Hart 15), Glacier 37 (Hannah Liss 34). Digs — Big Sky 35 (Macey Newbary 11), Glacier 44 (Hailee Bennett 14). Blocks — Big Sky 1 (no leader), Glacier 3 (Katie Wiley 2). Aces — Big Sky 1 (Dom Calabro), Glacier 18 (Kayla Russell 9).