Lady Bulldogs advance to divisionals

TROY — The Mission volleyball team opened up its 7-B district tournament with an intense game.

Last Friday, the Bulldogs played Troy, who they beat in early September but lost to in October.

This time, Troy had a slight advantage, as it was the tournament host. To combat the home crowd, the Bulldogs on the bench yelled and cheered like crazy.

Head coach Kendal Anderson said the game had a lot on the line, even though it was the first round.

“If they won, making it to divisionals would be easier,” she said.

This game went down to the last set. Mission won the second and third set before winning the fifth set 15-7.

Anderson said the set came out tough before Mission stepped up.

“On top of the excitement, they were nervous, afraid to make mistakes,” Anderson said. “We just came out strong.”

Three Bulldogs had double digit kills. Senior middle hitter Rachel Jensen had 16, junior outside hitter Jonna Grant had 11 and junior middle hitter Adessa Durglo had 10. Senior libero Katie McDonald had 17 digs.

Next, Mission entered into a game against Bigfork. The Bulldogs won the first set but dropped the next three 26-24, 19-25, 16-25, 16-25.

Jensen registered 11 kills.

This matched Mission against Plains with the loser’s season ending. Jenson led the way again for the Bulldogs with 10 kills, as the Bulldogs won 24-26, 25-10, 25-14, 25-16.

“Rachel was hitting awesome all tournament,” Anderson said.

Next up was Thompson Falls. In the loser out game, Mission came out strong.

“We were killing the ball, moving fast,” Anderson said. “They had so much energy.”

In three close sets, the Bulldogs won 25-23, 25-23, 25-21. Grant came up huge with 11 kills and 11 digs.

“Grant was on fire,” Anderson said. “Even Eureka noticed. She was just an animal. Double kills, double digs, which is something a front-row hitter usually doesn’t have.”

McDonald played strong defense with 31 digs.

“She was the most constant,” Anderson said of McDonald’s tournament play. “On defense in the back row, you know she will be there.”

After the huge win against Thompson Falls, the Bulldogs had the mindset of “we can do this,” Anderson said.

Twenty minutes later, Mission went on to face Eureka where Mission ran out of energy.

“We didn’t have any stamina,” Anderson said of the 18-25, 23-25, 15-25 loss. “In that final game, the girls were dead.”

It was a bittersweet loss as the two teams are close friends with one another. “They are all friends and our girls weren’t really upset about losing to them,” Anderson said. “They played better than they had all year.”

Mission will enter the divisional tournament in Superior as the third seed. To begin the tournament, the Bulldogs will play Deer Lodge, a team Mission lost to earlier in the season.

Deer Lodge has players who have played together for a long time and are able to have a creative offense, Anderson said.

To prepare, the Bulldogs will watch game film and focus on beating Deer Lodge instead of focusing on the different scenarios that could play out. However, if the Bulldogs win, they will face a familiar foe in Bigfork.

The third seed is better for Mission than a second place seed because they are on the opposite side of the bracket as power-house Loyola.

“That’s good for us,” Anderson said.