It wasn’t the ending they were hoping for but considering how many seniors were on last year’s Class A State champion volleyball team, Coach Laurie Jones was pretty happy with her team’s fourth place finish.
“The goal is always to play your best, and we did that. The top three seeds from both the East and the West were really tight, pretty even, tough and competitive.”
The state tournament was different than the usual All Class tournament held in the Field House at Montana State University. Instead of four courts going with four different games and crowds yelling at each of the courts, the Class A tournament was held in Sidney with just limited fans.
Jones said that she felt her team wasn’t really affected by the new format as they had had all season to play in front of smaller crowds or even no crowds. They did have a long day on Friday
“We worked on being relaxed and focused throughout the season, and that helped at the tournament.”
Corvallis opened against Hardin. Although the Blue Devils won the first game, 19-25, Hardin took the next three games and the match. In the second game, Hardin took an early lead but then Jenna Jordan stepped up her game at the net and Paige Colaprete served up five points to pull within four points but couldn’t get the win. Hardin won the second game, 25-21. Game three was very evenly matched with rarely a point separating the two teams. Jordan came through with a couple key kills and a block. But the front row of Hardin kept the ball in play and Hardin won, 25-23. In game four, Hardin took the lead and although it was close early, Hardin took the win and the match.
Havre def. Corvallis -19-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-9
Havre – Kills 42 (Alyssa Prettyweasle 17, Russell 13), Blocks 9 (Pretty Weasel 4.5), Digs 50 (Rilee Greer 10, Jonna Lind 10, Kailee Roan 10), Assists 33 (Rylee Kogolshak 33), Aces 5 (Kogolshak 3).
Corvallis – Kills 46 (Madilyn Gilder 15, Jenna Jordan 14, Madison Lewis 6), Blocks 4 (Tylin Sorenson 2, Jordan 2), Digs 111 (Jordan 23, Gilder 26, Colaprete 16), Assists 46 (Brooklyn Powell 40), Aces 5 (Jordan, Katelyn Behner, Colaprete).
With the loss, Corvallis moved to the loser out bracket on Friday and began their day with a match against Havre. Just 10 hours later they played their third game of the day, against Columbia Falls. In between, the Blue Devils also played Glendive (Dawson County).
Junior Madeline Gilder stepped up her game on Friday, if that was even possible, and led the way for a 3-1 win over Havre in their first match of the day. She had 29 kills and 28 digs. Madison Lewis and Tylin Sorenson each had five blocks and Jordan added four more. Corvallis won, 25-23 25-22 21-25 25-20.
That win set up another match, this time against Glendive. The Blue Devils won in three games – 25-20, 25-14, 25-19. Gilder continued her pressure at the net with 14 kills; and from the back row with 16 digs. She also had four aces and two assists. Sorensen, a sophomore, had seven kills and Jordan added five more. Brooklyn Powell directed the offense with 26 assists. Senior Katelyn Behner finished with 13 digs.
Next up for Corvallis was Columbia Falls who had received their first loss of the season in the semi finals in their game against Hardin. The winner of this game would advance to play for at least third place and the loser would take fourth place. Columbia Falls defeated Ronan earlier in the day to advance.
The first game of the Columbia Falls game was close with Corvallis only losing by three points, 25-22. Corvallis won the second game, 21-25, but then Columbia Falls came back to win the last two, 25-16 and 25-14.Gilder had 22 of the 42 kills Corvallis had. Madison Lewis had four kills and Sorensen had eight kills. Jordon had four blocks. Colaprete, Gilder, and Katelyn Behner combined for 37 digs . Colaprete and Behner each had one ace. Powell had 32 assists.
“Their will and determination to not let the balls drop down was phenomenal,” said Jones. “We finished fourth, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Gilder was All State/All Conference MVP, Jordan made the all tournament first team, and Powell was named to the second team. Billings Central won the championship and Columbia Falls was second.