Breanne Kelley spikes one against Bigfork on Thursday.

Zach Urness / Leader Staff

A tough season came to an end for the young Polson volleyball team last weekend, as they went two-and-out at Northwest A divisionals in Ronan. As the number six seed the Lady Pirates matched up against the number three seeded Bigfork Vals and lost, 3-1, and than lost to Columbia Falls 3-1 on Saturday, ending their season with an overall mark of 2-13.

"I'd hoped that we would come out a little stronger," said head coach Jan Toth. "We just couldn't get any momentum going in either of the games."

The Lady Pirates lacked senior leadership this year, mostly fielding a younger team, but if there's a bright spot it's that everyone will be back next year.

"There was a big learning curve for all of us this year," said Toth. "There were a lot of points when I looked out and saw three freshmen on the court. But they never backed down, even against the biggest teams in the state. That's pretty impressive. Seeing Breanne Kelley, Kayla Duford and Sally Sams playing at that level as freshmen is pretty impressive."

But to turn their potential into the reality of a good team, Toth stressed that the team will need to stay together and work hard in the off-season, and she's hoping to see everyone back next year.

"If we stick together the foundation is pretty strong," she said. "To build on what we have we need to find time to work in the off-season. The teams that are winning find time and that's what it will take to build up the program."

Bigfork 3, Polson 1

The Lady Pirates had some good moments against Bigfork in their first round game last Thursday, but they also had some moments in which you realized just how young they are, as they lost by a final score of 25-15, 25-23, 19-25, 25-15.

"I'd hoped we'd come out a little stronger," said Toth. "We knew what they could do and we did a fine job of playing defense, but our serving plagued us again."

After a forgettable first game, Polson came out hot in the second game, taking a 7-3 lead after a Nicole Davey spike. Then, in a nearly David and Goliath matchup at the net, Breanne Kelley went up and stuffed Bigfork's 6' 3" Alyssa Fierro at the net to help the Lady Pirates to a 9-3 lead early.

But Bigfork came back and with Polson down 24-22 the girls won a nearly four-minute volley to push it to 24-23, but Bigfork won the final point and put Polson into a 0-2 hole.

The Lady Pirates picked up a nice win in the third game, but Bigfork won the final game for the match victory, sending Polson into the loser's bracket.

Nicole Davey and Aislinn Nielsen each had 13 kills to lead the team and Nielsen added three aces. Kayla Duford and Danielle Tidwell combined for 29 assists and Staci Benson had 30 of the Lady Pirates 67 digs.

Columbia Falls 3, Polson 1

Nicole Davey, Aislinn Nielsen and Breanne Kelley had seven of the Lady Pirates' 27 kills on the night, but it wasn't enough, as they went down by a final score of 25-15, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18.

Polson's lone win came in the third game when, facing the end of their season, they buckled down to come away with a hard-fought 25-23 victory.

Setter Kayla Duford had all of the team's assists with 21 and Nielsen also chipped in two of Polson's five blocks. Staci Benson had a game high 32 digs at libero and Davey added 15 to contribute to 75 overall. Loni Havlovich led the team in serving, tallying three of the team's five aces.