Volleyball Flathead 3rd at Missoula Invitational; Libby fourth

MISSOULA — Flathead defeated Libby 17-25, 25-16, 15-11 on Friday in the third/fourth place match at the Missoula County Invitational volleyball tournament.

The Bravettes advanced to the consolation final by beating top-ranked Helena High 25-15, 24-26, 15-11 and Missoula Sentinel 20-25, 27-25, 17-15.

Florence defeated Flathead 25-22, 25-18 in the championship bracket opener.

Florence and Corvallis had the second-best records, both were 11-3, after Thursday’s pool play.

Libby, at 9-5, had the fifth best.

Flathead, Glacier and Columbia Falls were next at 8-6.

“We got off to a slow start this morning,” Flathead coach Nicole Fairclough said.

“Florence is very solid, scrappy team.

“Yesterday we did not play our best,” she continued.

“It was good today to come out against Sentinel and get things going. We found our rhythm.”

Fairclough said Madde Boles, Taylor Henley and Julia Burden “stepped up big time today offensively. All three of them did a nice job for us at the net.”

Fairclough said Sierra Wilhelm “did a nice job setting and getting the right hitters the right ball.

“We had a couple comebacks today.” Fairclough added.

“Overall a good performance today for the whole team.”

Second-ranked Helena Capital beat Corvallis 25-21, 25-23 in the championship match. Capital was 14-0 after Thursday’s play and did not lose a set.

Capital started the final day by topping Glacier 25-23, 25-16 and beat Helena High 28-26, 25-15 in the semifinals.

Helena High started championship bracket play by besting Libby 25-20, 25-18.

The Bravettes, ranked No. 3 in the Class AA coaches’ poll, conclude regular-season action with two matches next week — Tuesday at home versus Missoula Sentinel and Saturday at Missoula Hellgate.

Glacier also has two games left — Tuesday at home with Hellgate and Thursday at Sentinel.