Wednesday November 17, 2010

Sports at a Glance

All stories by Jean Schurman

Bitterroot teams fall short at state

The All Class volleyball tournament looks similar to an anthill to the unknowing eye. With games being played on four courts at the same time, the sound of balls being hit and whistles and yells from the crowd can be confusing to say the least. But having the chance to play at this prestigious tournament in Bozeman is well worth any distraction.

This is the second trip for the Stevensville Yellowjackets in two years. After bowing out in two matches last year, the team has set a goal of making it farther this year. However they had the misfortune of opening against the Fergus County Golden Eagles, the eventual state champion.

Stevensville played a strong first game against Lewistown (Fergus) and came away the winner. However, as the match progressed, the ‘Jackets couldn’t keep up with the Golden Eagles. Lewistown took the next three games to win the match.

“I thought we would compete a little more,” said Stevensville coach Lindsey Day.

What Day had not counted on was that Maddie Jones would not be 100 percent. Jones was suffering from flu-like symptoms and didn’t have her normal presence on the floor. She played but just not her usual self as a team leader and playmaker. Jones had eight kills even playing ill. Britney Chilcott had 10 kills and three blocks. Jones also had 10 digs.

After the loss, the Yellowjackets had to play Friday morning against Polson. Day said she thought her team had a chance against the Pirates. Once again they came out and played a solid first game and won that game. But the Pirates came back and won the next three games as well.

“It was not a lack of wanting to win,” said Day. “We were playing not to lose instead of playing to win. Polson was a beatable team, maybe on a different night we would have won.”

Chilcott once again was dominant at the net with 12 kills and three blocks. Freshman Kyla Paulsen added 10 kills and had 13 digs. Alexa Omlid and Jones each had three aces.

Day said she was very proud of her team meeting one of their team goals which was to return to the state tournament.

Lewistown def. Stevensville 19-25, 25-9, 25-15, 26-24

Kills – Lewistown 42 (Dayna Jensen 15, McCallie Feller 14). Stevensville 31 (Britney Chilcott 10, Maddie Jones 8). Blocks – Lewistown 10 (Feller 5), Stevensville 5 (Chilcott 3). Digs – Lewistown 65 (Sierra Fox 19,Jensen 12). Stevensville 35 (Jones 10, Ashley Reid 9). Assists – Lewistown 35 (Allie Adams 34). Stevensville 30 (Alexa Omlid 15, Michalia Funkhauser 11). Aces – Lewistown 8 (Fox 3), Stevensville 4 (Chilcott, Funkhauser, Kyla Paulsen, Emmalie Gavlak).

Polson def. Stevensville, 20-25, 25-23, 25-17, 25-17.

Kills - Polson 28 (Breanne Kelley 17), Stevensville 27 (Britney Chilcott 12, Kyla Paulsen 10). Blocks - Polson 8 (Riley Kenney 3, Kelley 2, Sallie Sams 2), Stevensville 5 (Chilcott 3). Digs - Polson 102 (Kendyall Rochin 26), Stevensville 47 (Paulsen 13). Assists - Polson 28 (Kayla Duford 28), Stevensville 23 (Michalia Funkhauser 10, Alexa Omlid 9). Aces - Polson 20 (Shay Duford 8, Kelley 6), Stevensville 9 (Omlid 3, Maddie Jones 3).

This has been a year of first for the Florence Falcons. First District championship, first Divisional championship, first trip to state for this group of players. Their first opponent was Manhattan Christian.

Florence didn’t show many nerves in their opening game. In fact they topped Manhattan Christian in that game. Manhattan Christian came back to stop the Falcons in Game 2 but again, the youngsters shook off the nerves and won the third game. However the more experienced Manhattan team came back to win the final two games and take the match.

“The games were close,” said coach Jeff Mahler of his Florence team. “Being that we’re so young, being able to compete was really great.”

Casey Mann and Melody Maki each had 14 kills in the match. Taylor Maricelli, playing with a bum shoulder still managed to garner 17 digs. Mahler said he had to replace her in the back row some and that definitely hurt them. “She does lead us in the back row. With new players there, we weren’t as comfortable.”

The loss set up Friday morning’s game against the Glasgow Scotties. Mahler said one place his team needs to improve upon is playing morning games. “We’re not a morning team. It takes us a while to get going.”

That wasn’t evident in the first game. Florence pounded Glasgow, 25 – 11. However the Glasgow coach made some adjustments and had her hitters hitting across the court diagonally. The change gave the advantage to the Scotties and they won the second game. Florence rallied once more to take game three but just could not pull out the win.

“We played together,” said Mahler. “All of the games were close and it wouldn’t have taken much to beat either team.”

He went on to say how proud he was of his team. “They didn’t really freak at all of the excitement at state. I love them all, thanks for a great season.”

Manhattan Christian def. Florence 17-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-15, 15-9

Kills – Florence 44 (Casey Mann 14, Melody Maki 14), Manhattan Christian 53 (Chelsea VanDyk 25). Books – Florence 4 (Mann 2), Manhattan Christian 10 (VanDyk 3). Digs – Florence 64 (Taylor Maricelli 17), Manhattan Christian 59 (Ovenell 13). Assists – Florence 48 (Makenzie Bauck 40). Aces – Florence 11 (Maki 5), Manhattan Christian 14 (Visser 4, Beth Bloomer 4).

Glasgow def. Florence 11-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-23.

Kills - Glasgow 37 (Tiffany Wetzel 12), Florence 32 (Courtney Byrne 12). Blocks - Glasgow 10 (Wetzel 5), Florence 12 (Cassie McCann 4). Digs - Glasgow 113 (Kaitlin Hagfeldt 49), Florence 50 (Taylor Maricelli 14). Assists - Glasgow 32 (Sarah Cassel 29), Florence 28 (Makenzie Bauck 26). Aces - Glasgow 8 (Wetzel 3), Florence 8 (Melody Maki 3).