BILLINGS — Cadence Lundgren munched on a piece of celebratory pizza in the Billings Senior High School gym, post-match nourishment for her and her Bozeman Gallatin Raptors volleyball teammates Thursday night.
The 6-foot-4 Lundgren, whose future lies with playing for Kansas State of the Big 12, reflected on the Raptors’ four-set win over the Broncs in the type of match that everyone was expecting.
Not necessarily a Raptors’ win, per se. After all, the anticipation for this No. 1 (Gallatin) vs. No. 2 (Senior) match that was also set to feature two NCAA Division I prospects — Senior’s Leela Ormsby is headed for Michigan State of the Big Ten — had been building for some time.
The team’s first of two meetings was originally scheduled for Sept. 21 but had to be postponed for a later day. All that time, the Raptors and Broncs kept winning, making the build-up that much greater.
Even though it didn’t go the full five sets, it still took the Raptors (9-0 Eastern AA, 20-0 overall) just under two hours to finally dispatch the Broncs in four, 27-25, 25-21, 24-26, 29-27. The teams delivered, even if the Broncs (8-2, 18-2) played without Ormsby, who sat on Senior's bench just two days after suffering a season-ending knee injury during a match in Bozeman.
“I was looking forward to this match the whole time,” Lundgren said, her slice of pizza whittled down to the crust by this time, “because I love playing against Leela. She makes me better.
“So, yeah, it was definitely a little saddening to know that’s what she had gone through and that was who (the Broncs) lost. But at the end of the day, we knew we still needed to come in and play the game, so there was no somberness whatsoever.”
Whatever somberness the Broncs had — coach Courtney Bad Bear said there was some Tuesday night in the 3-1 loss against Bozeman High after Ormsby went down on a non-contact play — had to be quickly expelled. The turnaround to regroup in time for the Raptors was less than 48 hours.
Volleyball can be, and often is, just as much about heart and belief as anything else. The Broncs needed to show themselves that they can still be a state championship contender without Ormsby, who ranked third in kills per set (3.74), second in points per set (5.52), and second in blocks per set (1.52) in Class AA.
Trailing 11-8 in the opening set, the Broncs went on a 16-7 run to have six set-point chances with a 24-18 lead. The Raptors, though, tied things at 24-24 before Senior earned another set point at 25-24. Lundgren and Kennedy Varda combined on a block for a point, a Senior hitting error gave the Raptors a 26-25 lead, and Lundgren put the set away with another block, one of her 12 on the night.
It was like that pretty much the rest of the night. If the Broncs had managed to pull off that first set, who knows how things might have gone?
“Everyone is a part of the heart of this team, like there’s not one player that carries the team,” said Senior setter Addie Falls Down, who was holding a couple of bakery treats after finishing with 40 assists and 18 digs. “We all love Leela so much that every play she was in our hearts. We wrote her No. 10 on our wrists so that if we had trouble during the game, we just look at our wrists and remember who we’re playing for.”
Those outside of the Raptors and Broncs programs could salivate all they want about seeing Lundgren and Ormsby facing off across the net. As good as Ormsby’s rankings are, Lundgren is basically a mirror image: fourth in kills per set (3.19), fourth in points per set (5.08) and first in blocks per set (1.65).
It would have been glorious seeing Lundgren and the 6-3 Ormsby squaring off.
But inside both of those programs, they know they are comprised of more than just those two players. And that was borne out Thursday night.
Eva Blatchford had 16 of the Broncs’ 50 kills. Emma Ormsby, Leela’s sister, finished with 11 kills, five aces and four blocks, while Avaree Thompson had six aces and 17 digs.
Raptors coach Erika Gustavsen saw her team generate widespread contributions, as well. Emma Hardman added 11 kills, Varda six blocks, and the Raptors had 61 digs, led by the 26 of Taylor Speake.
Gustavsen also praised the play of Miya Chase, whose block gave the Raptors the match-clinching point.
And as if this pairing needed any more intrigue, here’s another tidbit. Thursday’s match was the regularly scheduled meeting and was meant to be the last time the teams saw one another until potentially the postseason.
That Sept. 21 match that was postponed? That’s set for Tuesday in Bozeman.
“It’s going to be really interesting,” Gustavsen said. “You never have this where you get to turn around and play a team again in a different environment, and things like that. It’ll be interesting to see how it goes.”
Playing without Ormsby is all too familiar for the Broncs, unfortunately. Toward the end of last season, as they attempted to defend their state championship, Ormsby fell on some ice, broke her fibula and missed the divisional tournament. The Broncs lost out at divisionals and were kept out of the state tournament altogether for the first time since 2004.
This season, there’s a little more time to adjust. The Broncs will take whatever time they can get.
“We have been this successful because every single person on the court has been contributing and playing their part,” said Bad Bear, who guided the Broncs to the 2022 title in her first season at the helm. “Now, our dynamic just looks a little different and everyone has to step up. Everyone has to make sure they’re coming in and doing their role and doing their job.”
