Lady Pirates sneak past Maidens in homecoming battle
Lady Pirates celebrate 3-1 victory over the Ronan Maidens -- and the retention of the coveted paddle, with goes to the winning school during the annual volleyball matchup. (Bob Gunderson photo)
Maiden Lauryn Burr makes the kill during Saturday's game against the Lady Pirates. (Bob Gunderson photo)
Julia Barnard digs for the Lady Pirates during Saturday's homecoming game against Ronan. (Bob Gunderson photo)
Maiden Kaydance Santos makes a dig against the Columbia Falls Wildkats on the road Friday, Sept. 15. The Wildkats won in three sets. (Avery Howe/Hungry Horse News)
Polson and Ronan exchanged blows in a Northwest A volleyball battle, and the Pirates came away with an 18-25, 25-20, 26-24, 25-7 victory that lived up to the hype of the homecoming weekend.
"Winning against Ronan was important for us," Polson Head Coach Lizzy Cox said. "Losing the close match Tuesday against Whitefish was hard, so we wanted to come out strong against Ronan, which we didn't, unfortunately. It took us four games to finally get into our rhythm."
Polson was led by Mckenna Hanson's 21 kills, while Avery Starr dished out 41 assists. In all, Polson had 48 kills and 55 digs. Julia Barnard led the team with 15 digs, while Samantha Rensvold had 12 digs. Sierra Perez had three aces.
Ronan had 73 digs as a team, with McKenna Corley posting 15 of them and Kaydance Santos adding another 11. Lauryn Buhr led the team with seven kills while Seattle Adams had six. Adams also led the offense with 15 assists.
"Ronan is a good, scrappy, big team, and we didn't come out ready to strike," Cox said.
Polson improved to 3-1 in conference play and 4-2 overall. Ronan is 2-2 in conference play and 3-3 overall.
Whitefish defeats Polson
Whitefish downed Polson on Tuesday, Sept. 12, in a thrilling five-set matchup on the Lady Pirates’ home court. Mckenna Hanson led the Pirates with 22 kills, but Polson fell 25-21, 26-24,17-25,24-26, 7-15.
"I'm happy with the start of our season," Coach Cox said. "We definitely have things to work on and areas we need to improve. I feel like we need to get more consistent in our play to be able to beat teams like Whitefish and Hamilton, which were two close losses for us."
Brooke Zetooney led Whitefish with 10 kills, four blocks, and 11 digs. Isabella Hartwig was a force at the net, notching eight blocks and eight kills. Ainsley Scott led the offense with 15 assists, while Kaydence Blackwell also had 12 assists.
Avery Starr directed the Polson offense with 39 assists and also had five aces. Julia Barnard had 23 digs for the Lady Pirates, while Hanson and Samantha Rensvold had double-digit dig counts (10 and 11).
Columbia Falls tops Ronan
Ronan fell to Columbia Falls in three sets, 25-12, 25-17, 25-19 on Thursday, Sept. 14. Seattle Adams was a standout for the Maidens, collecting 13 digs, three kills, 14 assists, and two blocks in the matchup.
