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 West def. Helena 16-25, 28-30, 25-22, 25-12,15-12
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 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).
