BOZEMAN — The Class AA volleyball tournament got under way Thursday at Worthington Arena. Results from the first day are below. For updated pairings, click here.
PHOTOS: ALL-CLASS STATE VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENTS — DAY 1
Billings Senior def. Billings West 25-21, 25-23, 25-15 (quarterfinal)
In a repeat scenario, the Broncs aren’t getting repeat results.
Senior, ranked No. 2, finished its day with a flourish, topping its city rivals in the quarterfinals to advance to Friday’s unbeaten semifinal and ensure a trophy after missing out last year.
The Broncs were 2022 state champs, but didn’t qualify for the ’23 state tournament, a late-season injury to Michigan State commit Leela Ormsby playing a factor. Ormsby’s senior season ended early again this year due to injury, but this year’s squad has found a way to coalesce around that.
“I’m just so proud of this team,” Senior coach Courtney Bad Bear said. “We have faced so much adversity this season, especially late in the season. And they’re just relentless. I mean, they just come out and compete.”
Eva Blatchford and Emma Ormsby led the Broncs with 11 kills apiece, while Ormsby added six blocks. Jeda Fuson dug up 15 West attacks and Addie Falls Down finished with 32 assists.
West, ranked fifth in the coaches’ poll, was persistent all day. After coming from behind to win in five sets in their first match, the Golden Bears were stubborn in the first two sets against Senior before finally running out of steam.
Brooklyn Pierce had 13 kills, Reese Enderson had four blocks, and Kaylee Thompson finished with 15 assists. Mikayla Ramsey led the Bears with 17 digs.
Senior’s win sets up an unbeaten showdown with No. 1 Bozeman Gallatin. The teams split two matches four days apart earlier this year.
“I’m really excited to play Gallatin,” Bad Bear said. “They’re very well-coached. They come out and they compete hard. I always talk about my favorite matches are the ones that are at very high level, and tomorrow night it’s going to be a very high-level match.”
Bozeman Gallatin def. Bozeman 25-23, 25-22, 25-23 (quarterfinal)
Sweeps don’t come much closer. For that reason — well, other reasons, too — the top-ranked Raptors celebrated with vigor when Makayla Coleman’s kill hit the floor to end the match, sending Gallatin into Friday’s undefeated semifinal.
“Anytime it’s a crosstown match against two good teams, then you add in state, obviously trophies on the line,” Gallatin coach Erika Gustavsen said, explaining her team’s emotional reaction to the victory. “So, yeah, it was a great match and they’re always close. It’s kind of a blur right now.”
Third-ranked Bozeman led 20-16 in the third set. But looking back on the last time the teams met, Gustavsen recalled when the Hawks trailed 2-0 in sets on Halloween and forced a fifth set. The Raptors (26-1) eventually won, but they didn’t want to even come close to repeating that night.
So, they found a way to end this one in three sets, a win that guarantees the Raptors of one of the three tournament trophies up for grabs on Saturday.
“It’s not like getting to 26 and 1 has been easy, I mean we’ve had a lot of close competition,” said Gustavsen, whose team lost to the Hawks in last year’s third-place match. “I think it just shows that when we’re in them, that we’re confident and we’re able to finish plays.”
Cadence Lundren paced the Raptors with 11 kills and five blocks. Jorie Houk had 21 assists and Taylor Speake finished with 17 digs.
Bozeman (23-5) was paced by Nula Anderson’s 10 kills. Lauren Fox finished with 22 assists and Sofia Kimmel contributed 16 digs.
Billings Senior def. Missoula Hellgate 25-18, 25-12, 25-16
Billings Senior, ranked No. 2 in the final coaches’ poll, had more kills than Hellgate had digs in defeating the Knights in the first round.
Eva Blatchford had 15 of Senior’s 35 kills, and Mikayla Champlin contributed eight kills and Emma Ormsby six. Hellgate finished with 23 digs, paced by Morgan Meissner’s 12.
Blatchford, Ormsby and Champlin all had four blocks, Addison Falls down made 32 assists and Jeda Fuson led the way with 12 digs.
Cody Schneider had 12 kills to lead Hellgate.
Billings West def. Helena 16-25, 28-30, 25-22, 25-12,15-12
No. 5 West had its back to the wall from the second set on until a 7-1 run in the tiebreaking set gave the Golden Bears the lead for good on a push kill by Quinn Freitag.
The Bears recovered from a disheartening loss in set two to even the match, but then fell behind 9-4 in the fifth set before starting their final run.
The Bears’ Brooklyn Pierce led or tied for team-highs in three categories: She had 21 kills, three aces and four blocks. Pierce contributed 14 digs, as well. Jayden Long and Mikayla Ramsay had three aces each, as West finished with 11, and Kaylee Thompson had 30 assists.
Kensi Dorn had four blocks and Ramsay and Elsa Johnson wound up with 15 digs each.
Birdie Heuiser, who was AA’s top point-getter in the regular season, led Helena with 26 kills.Ella McCarthy had 5.5 blocks and Kiran Dusko 35 assists.
Lauryn Lieberg had 16 digs and Dakota Lieberg had 15.
Bozeman def. Missoula Sentinel 25-19, 25-15, 25-19
The third-ranked Hawks rolled to victory over the Spartans through a balanced attack led by Nula Anderson and a strong serving game.
Anderson finished with 12 kills, followed by Morgan Jones with eight and Lowe Lefeber with six. Bozeman served up 11 aces, five of them from Lauren Fox, who also had 32 assists. Sofia Kimmel added two aces, as did Olivia Davis, and Kimmel tallied a team-high 11 digs.
Though Bozeman (23-4) was credited with just three blocks, Sentinel (12-14) was held to 23 kills. Elise Hauck and Andrin Reimers both had six. Kaydance Deering contributed 27 digs.
Bozeman Gallatin def. Kalispell Glacier 25-20, 25-15, 25-21
The top-ranked Raptors got their tournament off to a good start with a sweep of the Wolfpack.
Cadence Lundgren had 10 kills and seven blocks to pace Gallatin. Emma Hardman contributed all the way around with eight kills, five digs and two aces. Jorie Houk had 16 assists, Markie Wiseman had 15, and Taylor Speake led the team with eight digs.
Avaieh Thomas led Glacier 11 kills to lead the Wolfpack (10-17).
