Maidens drop Lady Pirates in five, sweep Wildkats

RONAN - With the valley's volleyball bragging rights up for grabs last weekend, Ronan came out ahead with wins over the Lady Pirates and Columbia Falls Wildkats, as all the teams head to the divisional tourney today (Nov. 11).

"A win is a win - it does not matter if it's Polson or whomever" said Ronan head coach Fred Skogen.

Ronan seniors Bridget Taylor, Jamie Lake, Amber Johnson, Kira Crenshaw, Cambrie Starkel, Deserie Krell, and Brooke Cornelius led the Maidens to victory over the Pirates last Friday night, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, and 15-7.

The Maiden seniors recorded 49 kills to Polson's 46, and 97 digs to Polson's 90.

"We had to come back strong (after game four) to win and had to control (Polson's) Tami Bonkowski and Alia Eraky. It feels good to beat Polson," said Maiden senior Kira Crenshaw.

After the Pirates started out the night with a win in game one, they didn't win again until game four.

"We always seem to come out well, but let down after that," said Polson head coach Deanna McElwee.

Bonkowski and Eraky both led the Pirates with 14 kills each, but it was not enough to hold back the Maidens. Bonkowski also led the Pirates with 26 digs.

Ronan's Krell helped the Maidens come out on top with 13 kills and 21 digs.

"Right now we need wins going into divisional," Skogen said.

The Maidens then swept the Kats on Saturday, 25-20, 25-16 and 25-22.

Against the Kats, Ronan had 34 kills and 55 digs, led by Crenshaw with eight kills and Krell and Lake with 11 digs each.

"They (the Kats) missed some key serves that really hurt their momentum," said Skogen.

The Maidens won game five after Columbia Falls missed the serve on match point.

"Tonight we just hit on all cylinders and to win in three games was a big step for our confidence," Skogen said after Saturday night's win.

With the two victories, Ronan moves to 4-6 in the conference and 8-6 overall. They will face the Kats in first-round action of the divisional tourney, which starts Thursday (Nov. 11) in Libby.

The teams sparred for third and fourth place in the division all year, and Columbia Falls beat the Maidens earlier in the year.

For the divisional tourney, all teams advance and are seeded based on their regular-season record.

The Pirates, 2-10 overall, will face Bigfork at 8 p.m. on Thursday in Libby.