Stayin' alive: Maidens mow down Loggers, move on to divisionals

It appears these Maidens have some fight left in them after all.

Following a lackluster three-set home loss to Libby on Friday, Ronan (8-7, 4-5) turned the tables on the Lady Loggers (3-10, 3-6) on Wednesday and reeled off a sweep with their season on the line in a play-in game for the Western A divisional tournament.

The Maidens claimed the No. 4 seed out of the Northwest District with the win and will visit Southwest District top seed Corvallis (14-1, 10-0) for a first-round match at 7 p.m. Thursday.

The weight of the evening’s outcome was apparent from the get-go Wednesday night in Ronan. The first set included at least a half dozen ties, and neither team led by more than four points until an ace by junior Rylie Lindquist put the Maidens up 21-16.

The Lady Loggers closed the gap to two points, but Ronan pulled ahead to set point at 24-20. Back came Libby, with four straight points to tie it at 24-all. That was followed by ties at 25, 26 and 27. Senior Madeline McCrea then blasted a kill and followed with an ace to give Ronan a 29-27 win in the first set and a firm grip on momentum.

The second and third sets followed an identical script: Ronan building an early lead and holding Libby at arm’s length before pulling away late. The Maidens took the second 25-13 and the third 25-14.

McCrea finished with 10 kills and six blocks for the Maidens, while sophomore Leina Ulutoa contributed 20 assists and five blocks. Junior Rylie Lindquist led the team with a pair of aces and 17 digs. Junior LaReina Cordova had eight digs and four kills. Junior Olivia Clairmont chipped in six kills, five blocks and five digs in a well rounded performance.

First-year head coach Lacey Phelan had a clear notion of what made the difference between the Friday loss and the Wednesday victory.

“Passing. Our serve receive was on, we were reading on defense. Last week our passes weren’t there, so we couldn’t get our sets and we couldn’t get our hits. Tonight, serve receive was great and we blocked like crazy. (Libby) had a hard time getting anything over the net, and that makes our defense a lot easier.”

And with the dramatic first set clearing the path to the win, she said it was important for the Maidens to battle through a tense set and gain some confidence in their abilities as a cohesive squad.

“I think that’s the hardest part of volleyball, because it’s such a game of momentum. The more you roll, the easier things seem to get. We’ve struggled with … we lose a few points and we start to dig a hole for ourselves in our minds. It’s a mental game. They hung in there tonight, and I think it just proves to them that we are capable and able to do this.”

In other play-in games Wednesday night, Butte Central (4-5, 2-5) upset Stevensville (6-9, 3-5) in four sets and Hamilton (4-10, 3-6) held off Dillon (2-11, 2-8) in five sets.

Polson (8-4, 5-4) hasn’t played since a three-set loss to Northwest top seed Columbia Falls (12-0, 9-0) on Oct. 24. The Lady Pirates will finally be in action again Thursday night when they host Hamilton at 7 p.m. Butte Central will play at Columbia Falls, while Whitefish (6-7, 4-5) plays at Frenchtown (7-3, 6-2) in Thursday's other Western A divisional matches.

Polson and Ronan are on the same side of the bracket, so it’s possible they’ll meet again down the road — Friday in Ronan if both win Thursday, or Friday in Polson if both lose, according to Phelan.