BILLINGS — New faces and at least one new state champion will be some of the themes in store for the state volleyball tournament, which gets underway Thursday at Worthington Arena in Bozeman.
Three of the four reigning state champions are back: Billings West in Class AA, Hardin in Class A and Huntley Project in Class B. Only Class C’s Manhattan Christian, which had won the previous three titles in the classification, failed to qualify for its respective state tournament.
In Class AA, Bozeman Gallatin brings a gaudy 24-1 record to the tournament. Billings Senior (21-3) was the only team to beat the Raptors, and if the Broncs are to do it again they'll have to surge forward without one of their best players in school history; Leela Ormsby suffered a season-ending knee injury but managed to capture Montana's all-class state record for blocks in her final match against Bozeman.
The Michigan State commit closed her career with 421 total blocks edging Manhattan Christian's Amanda DeHaan with 420 between 2001-03. Ormsby is also Senior's career leader in solo blocks (119), assist blocks (302) and attack efficiency (0.370).
Bozeman High is also in the state championship conversation with an impressive record at 21-4. West (16-9) got a road playoff win over Great Falls CMR to keep its repeat hopes alive. During the regular season, teams from the East dominated their West counterparts, winning 17 of 20 cross-conference matchups. The only team from the West bringing a better-than-.500 record to the tournament is Western AA champ Helena at 15-10.
Hardin is one four teams, along with Billings Central, Lockwood and Frenchtown, returning to the Class A tournament field. Billings Central and Dillon were divisional champions. Billings Central has reached the state championship match for the previous eight years. Lewistown, once a perennial contender, goes back to Bozeman for the first time since 2017. Bigfork is in its first Class A field since 2005, though the Valkyries last appeared in the Class B state tournament in 2022.
Huntley Project, which is the defending Class B champion, returns to the tournament along with Fairfield and Florence-Carlton. But the Red Devils, who are appearing in their 25th straight state tournament, go to Bozeman as the third seed from the always tough Southern B.
Baker won the divisional title and ended a state-drought that saw the Spartans last make a state appearance in 2009. Fairfield in the North and Florence-Carlton in the West are the other divisional champions. Chinook was in the 2022 Class C tournament field, but is making its first Class B appearance since 2003.
Class C also sees just three returning teams in Bridger, Belt and Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale, which finished third last season. The tournament field has several mainstays in Eastern C champ Circle (14th appearance since the Montana High School Association placed all the tournaments in the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse beginning in 2004), Belt (12th appearance), Southern C champ Bridger (12th appearance) and Western C champ Gardiner (10th appearance).
But Big Sandy, the Northern C winner, is making its first trip to state since 1998. Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine is making its first trip as a co-op, though Geraldine made state showings in 2014 (as a co-op with Highwood) and as a stand-alone school in 2010, 2011 and 2012.
