Mission places third at District 7B tourney

At St. Ignatius this past Saturday for the District 7B tournament, the host Mission Lady Bulldogs started out a little ragged in their first set against the second-seed Lady Blue Hawks of Thompson Falls and ended up dropping a four-set match to the eventual champion.

The Lady Bulldogs showcased more of their capability in the third set when they began to edge ahead after a trio of early ties, forcing a Bluehawk timeout. Mission continued to cobble together a nice cushion as they would reach the 20s first. After a Karolyna Buck tip, Olivia Garland would spike a pair of kills, followed by Amy Dillard picking up the last two points on spikes as Mission captured the third set, 25-19.

Empowered by their win, the Lady Bulldogs and the Lady Bluehawks would battle it out for dominion in the fourth set with eight ties up through the mid-teens.

But thereafter, T-Falls would reel off four unanswered, forcing a Lady Bulldog timeout to regroup. Mission cut the lead in half 18-16, but the Lady Bluehawks capitalized upon a 5-1 disparity to force another Mission timeout.

Only this time, there would be no rally like in the first set as T-Falls picked up the final two points and the match.

Sydney Brander and Karolyna Buck combined for 16 kills, while Brander, Olivia Garland and Hunter Eichert each served up a trio of sizzling spuds too hot to handle from the service line. River Gonzalez and Azia Umphrey collaborated on 33 defensive digs.

Lady Bulldog head coach Rhandy Cox commented, “I am hoping we can put it all together this weekend. We had great front row defense against Thompson Falls. Blockers did a great job defending the net. If we can keep that up ... and move the ball around well offensively, I know we will have a good weekend. ... We just have to leave it all on the court with no regrets.”

Mission retained their third-seed status coming into the tournament and are slated to face 6B second seed Anaconda this upcoming weekend in Eureka at the Western B Divisional.

2019 District 7B VB tourney

St. Ignatius, MT

Saturday, November 2

7B championship

T-Falls def. Eureka 25-22, 25-19, 27-25

(Sa02Nov19gm4dist)

7B consolation (3rd place)

Mission def. Bigfork 3-1

Mission (11-7)

Mission def. Bigfork 26-24, 13-25, 25-17, 25-23

KILLS – MSI 33 (Sydney Brander 15, Karolyna Buck 10, Olivia Garland 4, Amy Dillard 2, Keana Thomas, Azia Umphrey), B15 (Myranda Gray 4). ACES – MSI 7 (Azia Umphrey 3, Garland 2, K.Thomas, River Gonzalez), B16 (Aubrey Halverson 4, Jessy Frey 4). ASSISTS – MSI 33 (Hunter Eichert 33), B12 (A.Halverson 8, Dana Saari 3). BLOCKS – MSI 8 (Keana Thomas 3, Buck 2, Garland, Syd Brander, A.Dillard), B8 (A.Halverson 5). DIGS – MSI 61 (River Gonzalez 19, H.Eichert 11, A.Umphrey 10, Buck 8, Garland 5, Courtney Mitchell 4, Syd Brander 3, A.Dillard), B60 (D.Saari 11, Kyleigh Bradshaw 11). (Sa02Nov19gm3dist) M35tae, M15se

Thompson Falls def. Mission 3-1

Mission (10-7)

T-Falls def. Mission 27-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-17

KILLS – TF45 (Scarlette Schwindt 18), MSI 27 (Sydney Brander 8, Karolyna Buck 8, Olivia Garland 5, Amy Dillard 3, A.Umphrey, Keana Thomas, River Gonzalez). ACES – TF7 (S.Schwindt 4), MSI 12 (Syd Brander 3, O.Garland 3, H.Eichert 3, A.Umphrey, K.Thomas, Courtney Mitchell). ASSISTS – TF38 (Riley Wilson 36), MSI 26 (Hunter Eichert 26). BLOCKS – TF15 (Belle Cooper 7), MSI *7 (*K.Thomas 3, Garland 2, Buck 2). DIGS – TF52 (S.Schwindt 15, Jody Detlaff 13), MSI 62 (River Gonzalez 22, Azia Umphrey 11, Syd Brander 8, C.Mitchell 5, K.Thomas 5, H.Eichert 5, Garland 4, Buck 2).

(Sa02Nov19gm2dist) M32tae, M4se,

Asterisk (*) denotes stat variants were alternate tallies differ: GMS+: MSI 6b (Dillard 2b) JHtally (K.Thomas 3b, Dillard 0b)

Wardens lock out Scarlets

At Deer Lodge, the visting Scarlets and the host Lady Wardens embarked upon the postseason with a play-in contest to determine the final seeding for the 6B district tournament held in Florence.

The Scarlets made a competitive match out of all three sets as each extended into the teens. But host Deer Lodge would secure the final berth with a three set sweep, thereby culminating the season for Arlee.

The Scarlets showed remarkable improvement as their schedule progressed as the relatively young squad continued to work hard at honing their skills. Scarlet specifics for the match were unavailable prior to presstime.

6B play-in

Deer Lodge def. Arlee 3-0

Arlee (1-16), Deer Lodge (5-11)

Deer Lodge def. Arlee 25-16, 25-19, 25-19

KILLS – A8 (Saige Koetter 3, E.Fiddler 3), DL30 (Marion Jones 9, Jordan Smith 9). ACES – A4 (J.Crawford 2), DL13 (M.Jones 5). ASSISTS – A7 (Jerny Crawford 6), DL27 (Amy Fjell 22). BLOCKS – A5 (Halle Adams 2, Noel Johnson 2), DL10 (Nia McClanahan 6). DIGS – A58 (Emily Fiddler 28, Rheid Crawford 24), DL38 (Rachel Nicholson 12). (Tu29Oct19playin)