Ronan beats Polson in thriller

Zach Urness — Leader Staff

POLSON—The rivalry between Polson and Ronan took to the volleyball court Tuesday night and both teams played so hard, left so much on the court, that it's almost a shame one of them had to lose.

But it was once again the more experienced Ronan Maidens that came out on top, rallying from a 2-1 deficit to force a game five that they would win, 15-12. The win came on a big slam from Ishan Wylie, who put the team on her shoulders and refused to let them lose.

The final score was Ronan 3-2, by scores of 20-25, 25-17, 22-25, 25-14, 15-12.

"Winning a game like this does a ton for our team's confidence," said Ronan head coach Stacey Ropp, whose team improved to 3-4 in the conference and 3-5 overall. "We've put ourselves in position to win a lot of games—against Bigfork and C-Falls—and come up short in the fifth game. It was nice to finally be able to pull it off."

It was the Lady Pirates who took control early, winning the first game 25-20. The Maidens came back and won the second game 25-17, but Polson grabbed a 2-1 lead with a 25-22 win in the third game.

Polson jumped out to an early lead in the fourth game, leading 9-6 and looking like they might be on their way to victory.

But than Wylie stepped up, slamming down every kill that came her way and blocking anything that came near the net. The Maidens used that spark and began to dominate the game, overwhelming the Lady Pirates with their power and size en route to a 25-14 win. Wylie had four blocks in the crucial fourth game and, along with Kaylee Larson, was in on virtually every point.

The fifth game went point-for-point until a Wylie ace put Ronan up 6-5. Polson's Christa Red Crow helped keep the score close with nice plays at the net and, after a Loni Havlovick kill, Polson made it a one-point game at 13-12.

Ronan controlled the following Polson serve and set up a beauty for Kaylee Larson, who smashed it down to give the Maidens a 14-12 lead. Larson than took the ball to serve for the win, and Wylie put down the game-winner.

"We have to quit being door-mats," said Polson head coach Jan Toth following the game. "Every kid on our team is good but it's a matter of mental toughness. We have to quit standing around and watching—you don't win game like that."

Ishan Wylie led Ronan in the stat department, amassing 10 kills, four aces and six blocks. Kaylee Larson followed with 11 kills and Ashley Cheff, who was battling a cold all night, had 25 assists.

"You have to give them a lot of credit," said Ropp of Polson. "They were scrappy and are getting a lot from their team."

For Polson Christa Red Crow had 10 kills and Nicole Davey added eight. Kayla Duford had 26 assists and Staci Benson had 19 digs.

Ropp, with his team finally getting a five-game win, said he was optimistic for the second half of the season.

"I am excited to see how the last half of this season plays out for us though because our girls are finally believing in themselves and in each other that they can play volleyball at a new level," he said of the Maidens.

Both teams struggled earlier in the week, going 0-2 as Ronan lost to Libby and Columbia Falls and Polson lost Libby and Bigfork.

Columbia Falls 3, Ronan 2

The Kats turned the tables on Ronan, winning a close game in five games after the Maidens took an exciting five-game match in the team's first meeting.

C-Falls won the first game 26-24 and shut down Ronan in the second game, 25-6.

"They have improved a lot since the first time we met a few weeks ago," said Ropp. "We started the first game playing fairly evenly with them and just had a few more errors then they did which allowed them to pull it out with extra points.

Ronan pulled their game together, though, and beat the Kats 25-22, 25-23 in the third and fourth games to tie the match at 2-2.

"We are a pretty resilient team though which I am proud of the girls for being able to come back after digging themselves in a hole," noted Ropp. "We could've let that game two pounding get to our heads but they didn't. They came back and fought hard winning games three and four. It was a pretty intense atmosphere to be in and they are learning to handle the pressure."

But in the tiebreaking fifth game, errors by the Maidens cost them the game and the match, as they fell 15-8.

Allison Crenshaw led the team with three aces and nine kills and Carli Starkel followed with 11 kills. Ishan Wylie had eight kills and five blocks and Kaylee Larson had seven kills and three blocks.

Ashley Cheff added 29 assists as setter.

Libby 3, Ronan 0

The undefeated Loggers rolled through the Maidens on Saturday in Libby, beating Ronan in three games 25-21, 25-15, 25-14.

Carli Starkel and Kaylee Larson had five kills each and Larson added three aces. Ishan Wylie also had three aces and added four kills. Ashley Cheff had 11 assists.

Despite the loss, Ropp said that he was pleased with his team's effort against the top-seeded Libby team.

"We actually had our best serving performance this season at Libby which allowed us to stay in each of the games," he said. "We just had a hard time getting much offense going against them and had our worst hitting night of the season."