BOZEMAN — When Circle made the Class C state volleyball tournament in 2022, the Wildcats were intimidated by the atmosphere at Worthington Arena and lost both their matches.
It's safe to say they weren't intimidated this time around.
The Wildcats put the finishing touches on an undefeated season Saturday with a 27-25, 19-25, 25-18, 25-17 win over Gardiner to claim their first state championship since 2015. Junior Madeline Moline, sophomore Emma Murphy and eighth grader Kate Nasner each had 12 kills for Circle.
"I think we're going to be back here next year," Circle coach McKinna Yerbich said. "These young girls got a taste of it — not only a taste, but they devoured the whole thing. So, I think they're going to want to come back, and it'll be like home to them now that they've got this one down."
Circle seemed at home all tournament, defeating White Sulphur Springs 3-1 in the first round, Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine 3-0 in the quarterfinal round and Gardiner 3-0 — though by just six total points — in Friday's undefeated semifinal.
Saturday's rematch with the Bruins featured another close first set before Gardiner won the second. The Wildcats settled in for the third and fourth sets, though, controlling — if not dominating for stretches — to secure the championship trophy.
Moline and Murphy, especially, came up with crucial kills as Circle showcased a balanced attack throughout the match, and momentum often swung in Circle's favor when one or both of them was taking aggressive swings.
"We focused on each point at a time," said Moline, who added added three blocks, two aces and 25 digs to her stat line. "We knew we needed every point that mattered. We knew that, looking back at last night by only winning by six total points, we knew we needed it."
Gardiner, which advanced to the championship match by sweeping White Sulphur Springs 25-15, 25-12, 25-15 in the third-place match earlier Saturday, certainly didn't make things easy on Circle. Ellie Reinertson had a fantastic tournament and finished it off with a match-high 25 kills in the title match.
But the Wildcats totaled 47 kills to the Bruins' 40, 12 blocks — four from Nasner — to the Bruins' eight and 112 digs to the Bruins' 87.
"We just knew we had to shut down Ellie (Reinertson)," Yerbich said. "We just knew that that was their weapon. And once we got her shut down, we knew that we could get our weapons rolling and get our offense rolling. And from there, it was exactly what we needed."
When Moline put down the winning point, she fell to her knees in jubilation. Her teammates shared hugs and a few tears before senior Kambrie Kountz accepted the championship trophy from Montana High School Association representatives. But the celebration was relatively subdued for a team that hadn't been here in nearly a decade.
"We don't know what losing feels like this year, so I think that the shock of winning that was probably a little more — they just didn't know how to react because I really don't know if they thought we could do it," said Yerbich, who also won a state championship as a player at Circle.
"I think at the beginning of the year, we thought we knew we were going to be good, but I don't think we knew we were going be this good by the end of the year," Moline said. "I remember getting on the bus at divisionals, I was like, 'Hey, we're actually really good, guys.' I said that right as we got off the bus after winning the divisional championship, and we knew now we could do it once we got here."
