Lady Pirates match up to AA schools

Polson has strong showing at Missoula City Invitational

MISSOULA - Polson ran the gauntlet of the Missoula City Invitational last Saturday, facing numerous AA teams and playing a lot of volleyball in just a day and a half.

The Lady Pirates came out relatively unscathed after the harrowing experience, placing third and advancing to the championship bracket for the first time in school history at the invitational.

"You have to give it your best shot," Polson head coach Jan Toth said about the tournament. "It's different volleyball. Their tempo is so fast."

While the Lady Pirates had to work on the fly to adjust to the tempo that the AA teams brought to the table, some great offensive play by senior Riley Kenney, who collected 42 digs, guided them through the tournament.

"It was exhausting," the senior Kenney said of the amount of games at the tournament.

After going 6-6 in pool play, the Lady Pirates got the No. 3 seed and matched up against No. 2 seed Helena in the Power Bracket.

Helena would defeat Polson 25-9, 25-22 in the matchup but the Lady Pirates would in turn defeat Hellgate 21-25, 25-23, 25-20.

"If we gave anything that was an easy dig that was coming back slammed hard," Toth said. "They had a lot of six-footers on the AA teams and we're small even for a Class A team but we're much quicker and we out-hustle other teams. Almost every game we made the other team work for it."

Polson ended up being the only team from Class A in the championship bracket and were up against a tough Great Falls team that won 25-10, 25-13. In the loser-out game, Butte downed Polson 25-15, 25-23.

It was an extremely positive experience for the Lady Pirates as they matched up toe-to-toe against AA competition and fared much better than other Class A schools.

The key for that success, a mixture of bench play and starters coming together.

"I used everybody on my bench and got some really valuable time," Toth said. "Every player had an outstanding moment."

Junior Katie Sprague had some fantastic defensive plays against Helena and freshman Jaiden Toth also came in off the bench and performed well. Sophomore Jessica Hoel came in and provided some instant offense for the Lady Pirates.

"They were stuck in some pretty crucial positions and they came through," Toth said.

Orchestrating Polson's attack was maestro Shalaina Duford, who had 124 assists in the tournament and 76 digs. Junior MacKenzie Banner had 74 digs.

Also blazing a path on offense was senior Ashley Johnson, who collected 35 kills and Heidi Rausch had 31.

THINK PINK NIGHT - Senior night this Saturday, Oct. 22 will also be Think Pink Night and the Polson players will be wearing pink jerseys.

The Lady Pirates will also be raising money for a Columbia Falls player that was diagnosed with a rare form of mouth cancer.

"I think we're a very close-knit group," Kenney said of the volleyball community. "We all know each other and it's good to help out."

Polson will also say goodbye to four seniors: Ashley Johnson, Kenzie Clay, MaCall Banner and Riley Kenney.

"I don't think it has really hit me yet," Kenney said. "I don't know how I'm going to react emotionally on that night."