BOZEMAN — Billings Central regained the Class A volleyball championship crown Saturday. It took everything the Rams had.
The Rams battled with Frenchtown through not one, but two championship rounds at Worthington Arena, finally taking hold of the title with a 25-14, 19-25, 20-25, 25-22, 15-3 win over the Broncs.
Frenchtown, fresh on the heels of a five-set victory over Dillon in the morning third-place match, came from a set down to take down the Rams 25-19, 15-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-13 in the first championship go-round.
It was a long day on the Worthington Arena court, whether your team’s matches started at 10 a.m. (like Frenchtown’s) or at noon (like Billings Central’s).
“Honestly, that was a long couple of matches,” Rams coach Anita Foster said as her team’s post-match celebration continued. “It’s almost 5 o’clock. We started at noon, right? That’s crazy. I think both teams had heart. I think both teams left it all on the court, honestly.”
Billings Central has now won four of the last five and six of the last eight Class A titles. And Saturday marked the ninth consecutive year the Rams have played for the championship.
It’s been a busy week for Frenchtown, which was making its first appearance in the title match since losing to Laurel in 2012. After winning the Southwest A regular-season championship, the Broncs played six matches at last week’s Western A divisional and played seven more this weekend at state.
That includes the three matches on Saturday, which all went the distance.
“Our girls really came out and fought today,” Frenchtown coach Morgan Job said. “Being in this same situation last weekend helped us to prepare for today. We came up short, but the effort and passion was there.
“These girls get to walk off the court with their heads held high knowing they gave it everything they had. Seven straight hours of hard-fought games is an accomplishment of its own.”
Frenchtown won the first title match despite having just 39 kills to Billings Central’s 59. Rachel Walls led the way for the Broncs with 12, while the Rams’ Kamryn Reinker had 20 to lead all players.
Getting ready for the if-necessary second championship, Billings Central players reminded one another that they were at the state tournament for a reason, Rams setter Annie Hanser said.
“We just don’t want to give this up,” Hanser said about her team’s mentality. “I just think it shows how resilient we can be. Just pulling through after that first loss and have to go (five sets again), it just really shows our resilience.”
The Rams raced out to a 6-0 lead in the final race-to-15 set. The closest the Broncs could get was 10-3 before Hanser dumped the ball over the net to spur the final run. Championship point came on a kill by Kassidy Schafer after Hanser and Kaitlyn Foster had previously dug up Frenchtown attacks to keep the rally alive.
CC Case had 14 kills to lead the Rams in the second match, while Schafer added 12. Hanser had 44 assists and 19 digs and Grace Jagodzinski served five of the Rams’ 12 aces. The Rams had 84 digs overall, with Kaitlyn Foster also getting 19 and Reinker 18.
“They just never stopped,” Anita Foster said of her team. “They never stopped believing they could do it. I just can’t tell you how proud I am. It was amazing. … I’m exhausted.”
For Dillon, the third-place showing was the first state-tournament trophy the Beavers have earned since finishing second in 2006.
