BOZEMAN — It’s been a quick ascension for the Bozeman Gallatin volleyball team. The Raptors aren’t yet at the top of the heap in Class AA, but they’re awfully close.
As it is, the Raptors are in the state championship for the first time in the school’s brief history, one that extends only to the 2020-21 year when Gallatin opened its doors.
Gallatin held off Billings Senior 25-18, 27-29, 25-21, 25-22 in the state tournament undefeated semifinal Friday night at Worthington Arena in a match that had enough ebbs and flows to prompt Raptors coach Erika Gustavsen afterwards to quip about her health.
“I’m just getting too old for all these close ones,” said Gustavsen, who is no stranger to leading teams to state titles.
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Gustavsen coached the volleyball and girls basketball teams at Bozeman High for several years, winning dual titles in both sports in the 2015-16 school year. She was one of a handful of Bozeman High coaches who matriculated over to the new school with the hopes, she said, of building a cohesive culture among the upstart institution’s athletic programs.
The Raptors took third place last year at state, and are now poised to finish at least one spot higher.
“It’s a really, really great feeling, especially for our seniors,” said Gallatin libero Taylor Speak, who is one of those seniors. “We’ve all worked so hard collectively as a team. But especially for these seniors, everyone’s helping on our team to help us earn it.”
Top-ranked Gallatin (27-1) certainly earned the win Friday against the second-ranked Broncs (23-4), who withstood just about every punch and delivered plenty of their own. Just not enough of them.
Eva Blatchford had 11 kills and Emma Ormsby eight blocks and nine kills to lead Senior, which plays in Saturday’s third-place match at 10 a.m. with hopes of regaining their 2022 state title still alive.
Cadence Lundgren, a Kansas State commit, recorded 16 kills and six blocks (along with Makayla Coleman), while Speak had 24 digs and Jorie Houk 25 assists for the Raptors. It wasn’t until Lundgren put down her final kill — after a pancake by Senior’s Addison Falls Down had extended the rally — that the match finally ended.
As the tournament’s only undefeated team, Gallatin needs to be beaten twice by whomever the Raptors play in Saturday’s championship. If they can win just one more match, the Raptors' quick climb to the top will be complete.
“There’s no drama, there’s no excuses,” Gustavsen said. “They show up every day, put in the work because they really wanted it. I think every team says they want to win a state championship, but not everybody puts in the work. This group puts in the work and they just keep battling and battling.”
Bozeman ends West’s repeat hopes
The Bozeman Hawks upended defending champion Billings West in four sets in the late match Friday, eliminating the Golden Bears and leaving a void atop the Class AA podium. West beat Bozeman in last year’s championship match.
The Hawks lost to Gallatin in Thursday’s quarterfinals, and they followed that up with wins over Helena and West on Friday. West beat Kalispell Glacier earlier in the day to keep its season alive.
Bozeman battles Senior at 10 a.m. in the third-place match, with the winner moving on for a shot at the title against Gallatin at noon. A second championship, if necessary, is scheduled for 2 p.m.
Bozeman’s win means the top three teams in the final Class AA coaches’ poll are left standing on the tournament’s final day: Gallatin is ranked No. 1, followed by Senior and Bozeman.
