Polson V-ball has strong start in Tip-Off

Polson Lady Pirates coach Patricia Luetzen is still in the evaluation process as her team participated in the Frenchtown Tip-Off Tournament Friday and Saturday at Frenchtown High School.

The Lady Pirates finished the tournament with a 2-5 record as they defeated Frenchtown and Butte Central. Polson lost to Hamilton, Stevensville, and Dillon in the tournament.

Luetzen said she sees the potential in her team when she did the analysis of her statistical data.

“In taking look at the percentage of error to non-error, I compared it to last year’s team,” Luetzen said. “I took a look at the serving and attacking and we had better stats. I really think that we have potential this year to run more of a system-oriented offense.”

Statistical analytics aside, Luetzen has seen some qualities in her team that you can’t quantify on a spreadsheet: leadership. According to Luetzen, her three seniors Kaelyn Smith, Kyler Lundeen and Laurel Bitterman have provided this for the team.

“So far, we had a lower percentage ace to errors ratio than we did last year,” Luetzen said. “Some people on our team played every game including Mikaela DuCharme. Our player Jaycee Frydenlund (from Cut Bank) alternated in and right now we are putting the pieces together. That is what I do the first half of the season. By the Missoula Tournament you want to make your changes and get better. You should have a good rotation.”

The Libby Lady Loggers in their first season moving up from Class B to A captured the Frenchtown Tournament. With more teams involved with the division including Browning, Libby and Ronan, Luetzen said it will make the competitive dynamic “interesting.”

“We will have to be at our best at the end,” Luetzen said. “Libby will have all systems running. Libby is a very small school and they are very proud of the town and their program. The Libby girls look like they play all summer and came into this season ready to show they belong in Class A.”

Luetzen also commented on the high-caliber athletes Browning, another new team to Class A, has on their squad.

“You can tell they have some athletes,” Luetzen said. “They have a new coach there who is a former college coach and he has a lot of patience with them. Their setter has really good hands and they will be an interesting team to watch as the season progresses.”

Luetzen said between her two big hitters Smith and DuCharme, they probably made the majority of the contact with the volleyball.

“Our serve-percentage was higher and we had some really nice passes,” Luetzen said.

The Lady Pirates sophomore Kyler Lundeen had 72 of the 140 digs as a libero.

The Lady Pirates will host Frenchtown Thursday at 4:15 at Linderman Elementary High School gymnasium.

The Lady Pirates will also play their new conference rival Ronan on Saturday and the time on that game is yet to be determined.

Polson and Ronan will square off for the first time as members of the same conference at the Ronan Events Center.

This marks the first time this year the two teams will meet.