MALTA — Things were starting to shape up a lot like last season, but this year the result was different. The Bridger Scouts won the 2020 State C volleyball title after handing Manhattan Christian two losses in two days.
It was a good feeling for this group of seniors to finally come out on top, but they also added to a larger legacy of Scout volleyball in the process.
The similarities to the 2019 tournament were uncanny. Bridger beat Manhattan Christian on Friday, the Eagles came back through the bottom of the bracket and forced a second championship. Last year, Christian won.
After again losing the first championship, the Scouts recalled that devastation and vowed to finish the job this time around.
"Before the game, I think we all just put ourselves in that position of having the first-place trophy," senior Emily Adkins said. "And we're like, 'What do you want to feel? Do you want to get that first place? Do you want to get second?' All the girls, we all knew we just wanted to get first."
Adkins led the offensive attack for Bridger, a team loaded with seniors that came into the tournament having gotten second two years in a row and fourth the year before that.
"I know it's cliche to say it's our turn, you know, but it felt like it was our turn," head coach Lena Kallevig said. "And they just have worked so hard over these years. And I know everybody works hard, but it was just different to finish second the last two seasons, and especially last year was the same thing."
This title was Bridger’s 11th in program history, by far the most in Class C. Coach Kallevig played in three of those and then was an assistant coach in 2004, the last time the Scouts won.
Jenna Kallevig’s mom, Merewyn Cameron, was also a player on that 2004 team. Now, there’s a new chapter in the story, and Jenna Kallevig is part of it.
"I don't even have words. My mom's kind of a little shorty, so I always kind of brag to her like, 'Oh, I'm way taller than you. I should have one by now.' But yeah, we're just so grateful," Jenna Kallevig said.
