Scarlets take district title

Zach Urness / Leader Staff

Class C volleyball, it's time you met the Arlee Scarlets.

The Scarlets blasted through the competition at the district 9-C tournament last weekend, going undefeated while losing only two games en route to a championship that will send them to the Western C divisional tournament in Butte beginning this Thursday.

The Scarlets were nearly perfect through three matches as they downed the Victor Lady Pirates 3-1 on Friday, and than beat Lincoln twice on Saturday, once in the semi-finals, 3-1, and once in the championship game, 3-0.

"The girls played some very competitive volleyball this weekend," said head coach Lonnie Morin. "They had it in their minds to take the tournament, and they succeeded."

Arlee will take their 13-4 overall record into Butte beginning today (Nov. 1) where they will play Sheridan at 2 p.m. and, if successful, they will play into the weekend.

"We are looking forward to our first round match against Sheridan," said Morin. "We will work on blocking, switching up our hitting and tipping skills, and working on serve receive this week, to make sure we are at the top of our game for Divisionals. The team is looking to make it to state, they can really feel the momentum shifting in their favor, and with some more hard work and focus, they'll achieve their goal."

Arlee 3, Lincoln 0 (championship game)

The pounding pair of Scarlets Abbe Bridgewater and Jordan Pfau combined for 26 kills and Pfau added two blocks and eight digs to help Arlee dominate the championship game by a final score of 25-12, 25-19, 25-23.

"They have a couple of really quick defenders and decent hitters," said Moran, "and the freshman setter is amazing. I was very proud of the team for successfully digging her jump serve, they handled it very well."

Veronica Nelson had 13 of the Scarlet's 23 assists, and as a team Arlee had 12 aces.

Kayla Thomas had an incredible block during the second game to spark the team, then slammed down a kill to end it a few points later, sending Arlee to the final game of the day.

Arlee 3, Lincoln 1

The Scarlets jumped out to a 22-1 lead in the undefeated semi-final on Saturday morning, and, despite losing only their second game of the tournament, cruised to a win by a final score of 25-5, 25-19, 23-25, 25-23.

"It was a strange first game," noted Moran. "Lincoln did stage a comeback of sorts, but we just weren't going to let them have it, we wanted it more."

Bridgewater led the team with 12 kills. Pfau put up 12 digs, 11 aces and one block, and Veronica Nelson added nine assists. Kaylina Ursua added one block.

Arlee 3, Victor 1

Jordan Pfau help slam the door on a resilient Victor Lady Pirates team with a 20 kill performance to lead Arlee to a 25-16, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19 victory in the first round on Friday.

"That was a good morale booster for the team," said Moran of the game. "Victor and our team have become good friends after playing each other in several tournaments and conference play this year. We cheered our hearts out for them."

Pfau added seven digs and five aces on top of her 20 kills. She was followed by Veronica Nelson who had one block and 12 assists.

In an interesting twist, the Victor bus was vandalized in the parking lot sometime that afternoon, but there was no indication that it was done because of the game against Arlee, and appeared to be just a stupid random act. Afterwards, the Arlee girls spent Friday and Saturday cheering for the Lady Pirates as they made their way through to the semi-finals, only to get beat by Lincoln in Saturday's earlier game.

During the championship game, the Lady Pirates were some of the Scarlets' biggest supporters, and stayed to congratulate them after their win.