Pirate volleyball closes out Jackets
<p>Polson’s Jessica Bagnell (left) and Kaelen Wall (right) jump to block a Stevensville attack. Wall had 18 kills in Thursday’s win.</p>
POLSON — “Indefinitely” apparently doesn’t suggest a very long period of time to Polson’s Jaiden Toth.
Less than a week after breaking her left big toe on Sept. 28 at Loyola, Toth broke back into Polson’s lineup in the second set of the Pirates’ home win (25-14, 25-23, 21-25, 25-21) over Stevensville on Thursday.
“I probably shouldn’t have played her, however, she won’t take no for an answer,” Polson coach Jan Toth said. “She was kicking me on the bench to get in.”
It certainly didn’t come out of necessity—the Pirates won the first set 25-14 without her. Jan Toth said, rather, that it was her team’s crisp passing that allowed her to but Jaiden in.
“Once we were able to pass like that, I could put Jaiden in and know that she wouldn’t have to chase balls,” she said.
The junior finished with 31 assists, seven kills and five aces, but said she was a little wary of moving on the left foot.
In lieu of keeping Toth in her normal rotation all the way around, Jessica Bagnell played on the back row for the first time, also assuming setting duties when Toth was out of the game.
“It’s kind of stressful,” Bagnell said. “I’ve only worked on it for two days. Being thrown in a game like that is really hard, but I thought I did fine.”
That she did, notching nine assists and nine digs.
Bagnell and Toth were assisted by strong hitting from the entire Pirate front line. Kaelen Wall had a breakout match with 18 kills and eight digs, and Jessica Hoel added 12 kills. The ever-dangerous Chloie Huerta tallied 13 kills as well.
“It’s very helpful [to have hot hitters],” Bagnell said. “It takes the stress off of everyone.”
Jan Toth was excited to see so much of her team play well against a tall team like the Yellow Jackets.
“Every one of my hitters came to play, and the difference was our blocking and our passing,” Toth said. “Stevensville has one of the biggest blocks we’ll fast.”
Perhaps an even bigger boost than gaining their setter back is for the Pirates to close out a match. Their previous two matches against Loyola and Whitefish, Polson had blown the final three sets after winning the first two.
She must have had some semblance of déjà vu when Stevensville rallied to win the third set.
“I’m just glad to close it out and get the win,” she said.