by Scott Sacry
The three Class A Bitterroot Valley volleyball teams, Corvallis, Hamilton, and Stevensville, competed in the Class A state volleyball tournament in Bozeman on November 10th-12th. The schools from the Eastern A Division dominated the tournament – in every game where an eastern team played a western team the eastern team won. But, all in all, volleyball in the valley is in great shape and all three teams will use this year’s experience in the state tournament to grow in the future.
Stevensville won one game and lost two. On Thursday, Stevenville lost to Laurel 1-3 (28-26, 24-26, 20-25, 20-25). Daphne Engel had 17 kills and 18 digs, Sophie Berning had 42 assists, Shelby Coleman had 20 kills, and Shilo McLain Lampi had 8 kills and 3 blocks. On Friday, they played Ronan and won 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23). Berning had 30 assists, Engel had 11 kills and 11 digs, and Tilli Danczyk had 2 aces, 2 blocks, and 7 kills. This sent them to play Havre later that day and they lost 0-3 (20-25, 13-25, 16-25).
Hamilton lost both of their games. On Thursday, Hamilton lost to Havre 0-3 (13-25, 12-25, 13-25). Taryn Searle had 14 assists, Jenna Guisinger had 11 digs, and Aurie Duncan had 5 kills. On Friday morning they played Polson and lost 0-3 (9-25, 13-25, 19-25). Searle had 19 assists and 9 digs, Aurie Duncan had 8 kills, and Mya Winkler had 2 aces and 2 blocks.
Corvallis made a long trip in the snow to Livingston to play Billings Central in the state play-in game on Wednesday, November 9th. They ran into a hot Billings Central squad (they would go on to win the state championship) and lost 0-3 (19-25, 10-25, 16-25).