Polson takes first
Senior Breanne Kelley was dominant for the Lady Pirates last weekend in Whitefish.
COLUMBIA FALLS— Polson head coach Jan Toth used the Tip-off Tournament in Columbia Falls last weekend to make some adjustments.
“Every kid on the team got to play,” Toth said. “I used this tournament as a building block to find an offense to showcase their strengths.”
By all accounts, she found that offense. Polson won the Tip-off tournament on Saturday after securing the top seed in the Northwest A division and then defeating the No. 1 seed from the Southwest, Dillon, 25-24 and 25-22, in the championship game.
“This is the first tournament that we have ever won since I’ve coached here,” Toth said. Dillon tried to match up and shut down top performers for the Pirates like seniors Sallie Sams and Breanne Kelley. They did not succeed.
“Sallie had one of the most amazing tournaments,” Toth said. “[Breanne Kelley] just jumped over everybody and pounded the ball hard.”
For the tournament, Sams had 49 kills and Kelley had 64.
“I had to work around the blocks,” Sams said.
Polson started the tournament on Friday with a 17-25, 25-19 split with Frenchtown. Then they defeated Hamilton 25-24, 25-22, split with Stevensville 23-25, 25-16 and defeated Anaconda 25-12, 25-13 and Corvallis 25-9, 25-22.
On Saturday, Polson played Dillon to round out pool play and beat them 25-21, 25-18. That secured the No. 1 spot for them in the North and they ended up playing Dillon again for the championship.
The defense as a whole was outstanding for the Lady Pirates as the team collected 330 digs during the tournament.
“I just can’t say enough about our defense,” Toth said.
The Lady Pirates will play at 4:15 p.m. tonight in Libby.