Volleyball roundup: Glacier sweeps Flathead
<p>Glacier's Nikki Krueger celebrates after a kill during the Wolfpack's 3-0 sweep of the Flathead Bravettes during the crosstown volleyball match at Glacier High School on Tuesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
It took only an hour for Glacier to run through Flathead in one of the fastest matches in series history. The No. 2 Wolfpack was dominant at home on Tuesday night, sweeping No. 5 Flathead 25-13, 25-16, 25-15.
Glacier started strong and never relinquished momentum to their crosstown rivals. The Wolfpack went on a 16-3 run in the opening set, with six aces in the stretch, to take a 23-8 lead. Flathead would rally for five straight points, but a hitting error by the Bravettes and a kill from Glacier’s Brielle Bumgarner ended any hope of making the first set close.
The second started much tighter, with Flathead playing the Wolfpack to an 8-8 score before a string of errors killed its momentum. Glacier scored the next six points and 10 of the next 12 to take command of the set. The Wolfpack took advantage of five Flathead errors in the last eight points to close out the set with out much trouble.
In the final set, Glacier scored the first three points, and went on another long run, taking a 12-9 lead to 23-13 on the arm of Tessa Krueger. The senior outside hitter scored eight kills in the final set to swing the Wolfpack to victory.
“We served really aggressively today, kind of kept them off their game with the serve-receive,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said.
Glacier finished with 40 kills in the three sets, led by Krueger’s 12. The team also had five blocks and eight aces, but it was the 42 digs that allowed the Wolfpack offense to kick into full gear.
“Those back-row kids are really working hard at knowing how important their role is,” Harkins said. “Every time they can pop that ball up, [senior setter] Hannah [Liss] can do so many things offensively and get it to those hitters. She just needs a pass.”
Libero Hailee Bennett led the team with 13 digs.
Flathead was led by Marisa Postovit, who had five kills and two aces for the Bravettes. Xio Lopp had nine assists and a pair of aces and Lizzie Sherwood had 10 digs. Tiana Johnson led Flathead with a pair of blocks.
“We never really got any momentum going,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said. “Our serving errors, passing errors, they kind of killed us. Glacier’s a good team, they took advantage of it like a good team would.”
The three-set victory is only the third sweep for Glacier in school history and just the fifth for either team. The games are typically much closer with five of the last 10 going to five sets.
“Any crosstown win is a great win,” Harkins said.
Glacier heads on the road to play Missoula Sentinel on Thursday. Flathead hosts Hellgate on Thursday.
Glacier def. Flathead 25-13, 25-16, 25-15
Kills — Flathead 18 (Marissa Postovit 5), Glacier 40 (Tessa Krueger 12). Assists — Flathead 15 (Xio Lopp 9), Glacier 32 (Hannah Liss 31). Digs — Flathead 31 (Lizzie Sherwood 10), Glacier 42 (Hailee Bennett 13). Blocks — Flathead 4 (Tiana Johnson 2), Glacier 5 (Brielle Bumgarner, Tessa Krueger 3). Aces — Flathead 4 (Xio Lopp 2, Marissa Postovit 2), Glacier 8 (Kayla Russell 4).
Eureka 3, Troy 0
EUREKA — The Eureka Lions swept the Troy Trojans in three game for a home victory on Tuesday.
The Lions registered 34 kills to Troy’s 19. Amanda Peterson finished with a game-high in both kills and digs to help Eureka overcome a sloppy match.
Eureka’s Aurora Berquart had five aces.
Eureka will have a short break before they hit the road to take on Plains on Saturday at 4.
Eureka def. Troy 26-24, 25-20, 25-18
Kills — Eurkea 34 (Amanda Peterson 12), Troy 19 (Aurora Berquart 7). Blocks — Eureka 2 (Ellie Peterson 2), Troy 7 (Sammi Rohrich 4). Digs — Eureka 87, (Amanda Peterson 23), Troy 44 (Kaitlyn Downey 14). Assists — Eureka 27 (Courtney Lemer 13, Charity Parsins 11), Troy 16 (Allie Brown 13). Aces — Eueka 7(Berquart 5) Troy 8.