BELT — For most of the past decade the Belt Huskies volleyball team has had a trademark of success in Class C.
This year makes it eight years in a row Belt has made it into the state tournament out of the Northern C, and that success might continue next year as the Huskies have only two seniors on the current roster. Belt’s made it to the championship game four of those eight years, including the past three years, winning it all in 2016.
The experienced Huskies are once again the No. 1 seed coming out of the North and aren’t afraid of anyone.
“We need to come out strong. Lately we’ve been starting really slow, our first set is always slow, so we need to come out and start strong and stay strong throughout each game,” said Belt senior Morgan Cooper.
“It’s an impressive run, for sure. It hasn’t come overnight. It’s been years and hard work that’s been put into this,” said Belt head coach Christine Gondeiro. “I’m just glad that every season these girls put in hard work, and it pays off for them and they’re able to show that impressive number of eight trips to state. It’s still amazing, but it’s huge. It’s a great accomplishment, and I’m glad that they are able to say, ‘Yeah, this is our eighth trip.'”
The Huskies have found a layout for success, and the team doesn’t want to let that go anytime soon.
“Once you get to state, it’s a completely different atmosphere. That gym just buzzes with excitement and you want to get back to that, because it’s so much fun,” said Gondeiro. “I think that has a huge factor in it. Also, once you have a feeling of success, you get that taste of it, you want it some more. As the years have gone on, these girls are scrappy, they work hard for it, and they’re not going to take no for an answer.”
Belt will face the No. 2 seed out of the South, Hobson-Moore-Judith Gap, in the first round of State C tournament in Bozeman on Thursday.
