Volleyball roundup: Glacier sweeps Hellgate in playoff preview; Whitefish, Polson net wins
<p>Glacier's Abigail Fiske tips the ball over Missoula Hellgate's Mikayla Bronec for a point during the first game at Glacier on Tuesday. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Glacier's Nikki Krueger smashes the ball past Missoula Hellgate's Kaci Paffhausen at Glacier on Tuesday, Oct. 27 in this file photo. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
Even after losing seven of eight conference matches to start the season, Glacier coach Christy Harkins saw promise in her team.
Only now, in the last week of the regular season, is Harkins’ faith finally being rewarded.
The Wolfpack won their third straight, blasting Missoula Hellgate 25-19, 25-14, 25-16 Tuesday night at Glacier High School in a preview of the first round of the Class AA playoffs, which begin next week.
“I always thought these guys had a lot of potential,” Harkins said. “It was frustrating for me at the beginning of the season (because) we weren’t finding that potential.
“We went to that Missoula Invitational (Oct. 15-16) and found a lot of confidence there. We played some good competition and ended up third, and that gave us confidence to go and get those conference matches last weekend.”
The Wolfpack swept the two Helena schools over the weekend and those wins, coupled with Tuesday’s victory, move Glacier into a fourth place tie in Western AA with the Knights. Glacier and Hellgate will be the fourth and fifth seeds, in one order or the other, out of the conference and meet to open the state tournament next week.
“I think these guys have been focusing for quite a few weeks now on improving and getting better every single match,” Harkins said. “And they’re finally starting to figure out that the hard work can pay off if they put it out there.”
Tuesday, Glacier was utterly dominating, trailing 10-9 in the opening set but never again the remainder of the match. The Wolfpack used a 7-1 run late in the second set to pull away and jumped on top of the Knights 18-6 before coasting home in the third.
Juniors Nikki Krueger and Abigail Fiske led the Glacier attack, each putting down 11 kills. As they have in recent weeks, the Pack used a pair of setters — senior Abby Schrade and sophomore McKenna Johnson — to deftly work around the Knights’ defense.
“We were able to mix up shots pretty well,” Harkins said of her attack. “They started out with a triple-block against us that we haven’t seen in a while, but the ability to change it up when we needed to was a big help.”
The Wolfpack also held high-flying Knights senior Hannah Lasche in check for most of the night, keeping a potent Hellgate offense out of sync.
“(Lasche)’s great. She’s a great hitter who jumps so high and hits so well,” Harkins said. “Our plan was to know where she was and either get a touch on the block or a touch on the dig. I thought the girls did a really good job focusing on that.”
Hailee Bennett led Glacier (14-10, 4-7 Western AA) defensively with 26 digs. Johnson, paced the Pack in both assists (14) and aces (4).
The Wolfpack returns to action Thursday at Missoula Big Sky at 7 p.m.
Glacier def. Hellgate 25-19, 25-14, 25-16
Kills — Hellgate 20 (Hannah Lasche 9), Glacier 31 (Nikki Krueger, Abigail Fiske 11). Assists — Hellgate 17 (Emily Jones 12), Glacier 27 (McKenna Johnson 14, Abby Schrade 13). Digs — Hellgate 73 (Becca Jones 28), Glacier 64 (Hailee Bennett 26). Hellgate 4 (Kaci Paffhausen 2), Glacier 3 (no leader). Aces — Hellgate 2 (no leader), Glacier 10 (Johnson 4).
Whitefish 3, Frenchtown 0
WHITEFISH — Whitefish powered through a Northwestern A conference match with Frenchtown, easily taking the first to sets in a 25-12, 25-12, 25-22 victory.
Nina Thew had a match-high 13 kills as the Bulldogs cruised through the first two sets. Passing breakdowns caused Whitefish to sweat out the third, however, before netting the sweep.
Allie Schulz had 22 assists and three aces and Cailyn Ross had two blocks and three aces for Whitefish. Ellie Dewan had a team-high eight digs.
“I thought the girls came out and played strong in games 1 and 2,” Whitefish coach Jackie Fuller said.
“We have a lot of things to work on. All in all, I thought the girls came out and played really well.”
Whitefish def. Frenchtown 25-12, 25-12, 25-22
Kills—Frenchtown 19 (Laci Willet 10), Whitefish 32 (Nina Thew 13). Assists—Frenchtown 18 (Kylie Willet 10), Whitefish 32 (Allie Schulz 22). Blocks—Frenchtown 4 (L. Willet 2), Whitefish 4 (Cailyn Ross 2). Digs—Frenchtown 39 (Allie Hochalter 11), Whitefish 36 (Ellie Dewan 8). Aces—Frenchtown 5 (Lora Pierce 2), Whitefish 7 (Schulz 3, Ross 3).
Polson 3, Hamilton 1
POLSON — Polson dropped its first set, but battled through the next three to beat Hamilton 16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 in a nonconference match.
Haley Fyant had a match-high 18 kills and Lydia Dupuis had 16 assists and two aces for the Pirates.
Caitlyn Gillespie had nine kills and two blocks to lead Hamilton.
Polson def. Hamilton, 16-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19.
Kills – Hamilton 35 (Caitlyn Gillespie 9), Polson 42 (Haley Fyant 18). Blocks – Hamilton 4 (Gillespie 2), Polson 5 (5 with 1). Digs – Hamilton 55 (Tristy Searle 21), Polson 64 (Lydia Dupuis 16). Assists – Hamilton 24 (Caitlyn Dillon 20), Polson 42 (Erin Sampson 39). Aces – Hamilton 9 (Brooke Huxtable 4), Polson 8 (Dupuis 2).