Class AA volleyball: Finally on track, Glacier opens postseason tonight

It’s hard to pinpoint just what clicked for Glacier volleyball after a miserable first two months of the season.

But whatever it was, the Pack hopes it doesn’t change now.

Playing by far its best volleyball of the season, Glacier (14-10, 4-7 Western AA) opens the postseason at home tonight at 6 p.m. against Missoula Hellgate, riding a three-match winning streak and with the memory of a one-sided shellacking of the Knights fresh in their minds.

“A little perseverance,” Harkins said of what it took to erase a frustrating start to the season.

The Wolfpack rose to the number four seed thanks to their late-season surge and earned the right to host tonight’s match after routing Hellgate, 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 on Glacier’s senior night Oct. 27.

“I think, honestly, it would be an easy thing for us to say ‘oh, we played well the last time we played them’,” Harkins said. “It’s a different week and there’s a different emphasis on this match.

“I can’t imagine Hellgate coming out weak. I imagine them being strong and aggressive.”

The winner of tonight’s match will advance to the double-elimination state tournament next week in Bozeman, and facing the stress of a single-elimination play-in match is not something Glacier’s had to do while winning back-to-back conference championships the last two years.

“Getting ready for a playoff game is a little different,” Harkins said.

“These girls have never been in a volleyball playoff game so we did look back a little bit at some of the things we’ve done.

“We were really efficient (in practice), trying to limit how many times we jumped and trying to keep our legs fresh and ready to go.”

Harkins made a handful of positional changes that helped spark her club, including inserting sophomore McKenna Johnson as a second setter alongside senior Abby Schrade. Johnson passed out 14 assists in the Wolfpack’s regular season finale.

In the first meeting between Hellgate and Glacier this fall — Sept. 5 in Missoula — the Knights prevailed in a tightly contested five-set match behind 16 kills from senior Hannah Lasche.

The Wolfpack has advanced the state semifinals each of the last three years.