Class AA volleyball: Knights end Glacier's season in play-in match
<p>The Glacier Wolfpack walks off the court after being swept my Missoula Hellgate in the Class AA state tournament play-in game at Glacier on Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier's Abigail Fiske knocks the ball past Missoula Hellgate's Kaci Paffhausen at Glacier on Thursday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Glacier had four set points in the second and another in the third.
But Missoula Hellgate had Hannah Lasche.
The Knights (12-12) exacted revenge after a sweep last week in Kalispell, returning the favor and ending Glacier’s season, 25-19, 26-24, 27-25 to advance to next week’s double-elimination state tournament in Bozeman.
Lasche, Hellgate’s senior outside hitter, put down four straight kills to erase a 24-20 deficit in the second set and finished with a match-high 18 kills on the night.
The win gives the Knights a spot in the state tournament’s final bracket for the first time since 2009.
In the Wolfpack’s three-set sweep of Hellgate on Oct. 27, Lasche had just nine kills.
“That’s the kind of player she is,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said of Lasche.
“It’s an anomaly, I think, that she was not very strong the last time. This is more like the Hannah that I expected to see.”
Glacier never led in the first set, but bounced back nicely in the second. Freshman Kali Gulick had three kills late in the set to give the Wolfpack a four-point lead before the Knights rallied.
In the third set, the Wolfpack again led 23-20 before another Hellgate run. Lasche had three kills and a block during the Knights’ match-ending 7-2 run.
“I thought Hellgate played extremely well,” Harkins said.
“But I thought we were tentative. We didn’t serve very aggressively and balls that we sent over the net were a little hesitant, a little tentative, and not as aggressive as they should have been.”
Juniors Nikki Krueger and Abi Fiske led Glacier with eight kills each. Fiske added three blocks to lead all players.
The match brought to an end the careers of five Wolfpack seniors: Hailee Bennett, Abby Schrade, Hailey Ruggles, Taylor Salonen and Ali Williams.
“These are a great group of seniors that really care about each other and that was a lot of the talk in the locker room afterwards,” Harkins said.
“To have a losing record (in conference), and to end on a loss and to still have the girls think the season was a success is a testament to their character and integrity.”
Glacier finishes the season 15-11 and went 5-7 in Western AA play after winning the conference title the last two seasons. The loss snapped the Wolfpack’s season-best three-match winning streak.
Missoula Hellgate def. Glacier
25-19, 26-24, 27-25
Kills — Hellgate 41 (Hannah Lasche 18), Glacier 36 (Nikki Krueger, Abi Fiske 8). Assists — Hellgate 40 (Emily Jones 36), Glacier 32 (Abby Schrade 16). Digs — Hellgate 71 (Mari Lundin 22), Glacier 50 (Brietta Russell 21). Blocks — Hellgate 6 (Lasche 2.5), Glacier 5 (Fiske 3). Aces — Hellgate 6 (Lasche 2), Glacier 3 (no leader).
Records — Hellgate 12-12, Glacier 15-11.