Volleyball: Class A, B begin postseason tournaments today
HAMILTON — Last year’s state runner-up Columbia Falls begins its postseason this afternoon as the Class A and B regional volleyball tournaments get underway.
Teams from Northwestern and Southwestern A will meet in Hamilton today through Saturday in an eight-team, double-elimination tournament.
Similarly, four teams each from Class 6B and 7B will tangle in a double-elimination tournament in Libby beginning this morning.
The Wildkats (13-1, 5-1 Northwestern A) suffered their first loss of the season last week to Whitefish but won the conference title via tiebreaker. Columbia Falls’ Western A Tournament kicks off at 4 p.m. today against Dillon.
The day begins at 10 a.m. when Frenchtown and Stevensville meet in a play-in match, with the winner taking on Southwestern A top seed Butte Central later in the day at 6 p.m.
Whitefish (10-4, 5-1) meets host Hamilton at noon in another quarterfinal, with Polson (6-8, 1-5) battling Corvallis at 2 p.m.
One team will be eliminated tonight, with the play-in match loser playing the loser of Corvallis-Polson in a consolation match at 8 p.m.
When the tournament resumes Friday, the winner of Whitefish-Hamilton will play either Butte Central or the play-in winner in the second round Friday afternoon. The Polson-Corvallis and Columbia Falls-Dillon matches comprise the bottom of the bracket.
The top four finishers in the Western A tournament advance to the state tournament, November 12-14 in Bozeman.
In the Western B Divisional, the top three finishers will move on to the state tourney, something no team from 7B did a year ago.
Thompson Falls won the conference and will get the day started at 10 a.m. against Ronan. Loyola and Eureka meet at noon to round out the top half of the bracket. The winners will play later tonight at 6 p.m. with a spot in the semifinals on the line.
In the bottom half, new Class B member Libby finished second in 7B and will play Anaconda in the final first round match at 4 p.m. The winner will play either Florence or Bigfork — who play at 2 p.m. — in tonight’s 8 p.m. nightcap.
All four volleyball classes — AA, A, B and C — will hold their state tournaments at Montana State University’s Brick Breeden Fieldhouse November 12-14.