Lady Lions VB Earns State Trip
Western Divisional Tournament
November 1 (Wed.) to November 3 (Fri), 2023
By AJ Truman and Tristan Butts
The Western B Volleyball tournament was held at Lincoln County High School in Eureka.
The top three teams from this tournament will advance to the State Tournament in Bozeman, Montana.
Deer Lodge (Powell County Lady Wardens), the # 4 teams from District 6-B, opened the tournament at 10 am on Wednesday, November 01, against the host team and District 7B champion - Lincoln County High School (LCHS - Eureka Lady Lions).
Eureka won today’s match 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, and 25-15). On September 16, these two teams met in Eureka with the Lady Lions winning that match 3-0 also (25-23, 25-18, 25-21).
In this first round match-up, the second set held some apprehension for Lion fans as Deer Lodge led by ten (17-7) and six (21-15). However, the host team stormed back to win 26-24. That moved the match to a comfortable 2-0 lead instead of a 1-1 tie. The momentum helped, and the Lions finished off the match quickly in the third set.
Anaconda and Eureka faced off at 5 pm on Wednesday in the winners’ bracket semifinal match. This was a highly anticipated matchup for the Lions because this would determine a guaranteed state tournament appearance. Anaconda came out strong winning the first set 25-16. The Lions answered back taking the second set 25-20. The Copperheads were not going to give up and took the third set 25-19. The home crowd seemed to be a big factor in momentum for the Lions. The Copperheads also had a huge crowd; some people said that is the loudest that gym has ever been. With the Lady Lions on the edge of defeat they clinched a spot in the state tournament by winning the fourth and fifth sets (25-19, 15-9). The Lions face the Florence Falcons in the winners bracket championship at 5 pm Thursday.
The Eureka Lions got an opportunity to play in the winners bracket Thursday, Nov 02 against the Florence Falcons but fell short, losing in 4 sets. The Lions started off the match hot taking the first set from the Falcons 25-20. However, this joy was short lived as Florence came back strong and took the next two sets with ease winning by 8 both times. Going into the fourth set the home crowd got into the game and the Lady Lions put up a great fight but falling short 24-26 losing the match.
The loss against the Falcons set up the Lions to play the Powell County Wardens (Deer Lodge) for 3rd place. Eureka handled the Wardens with ease in three sets and thus set a rematch against Florence for the Divisional Championship. Kara Stanger had 19 kills in the win and Katelyn Singer had four aces.
From the start of the match the Lady Lions backs were against the wall as they would have to beat the Falcons in two consecutive matches in order to claim first place. This however did not deter the Lions from putting up a fight. Florence came out strong, beating the Lions by 9 in the first set. The second set was more competitive with the Falcons narrowly escaping with a 3 point set win. In the third set Eureka moved ahead and never looked back, winning 25-22. The fourth and final set tipped in Florence's favor with them claiming the match. Stanger and Aubrey Casazza each had 11 kills in the championship loss.
In the two games against Florence and Deer Lodge on Friday Sophie Vaughn had 42 digs.
This resulted in a second place divisional finish for the Lions and a qualification for the State Tournament in Bozeman. This would be the Lions first State Tournament Appearance since 2017 which also happened to be the last time Eureka hosted the Divisional Tournament.
Wednesday, November 01
First Round scores:
Eureka (# 1, 7B) (20-1 record) over Deer Lodge (# 4, 6B)(11-9 record) 3-0 (25-15, 26-24, and 25-15)
Anaconda (#2, 6B)(15-9 record) over St. Ignatius/Mission (#3, 7B) (10-11 record) 3-0 (29-27, 25-13, 25-11)
Florence (# 1, 6B) vs Plains (# 4, 7B) - the Florence Falcons won 3-0 (25-15, 25-7, 25-17) … Florence now sports a 22-10 record according to 406mtsports.com after this match. Plains has a 9-7 record (not all matches recorded on 406mtsports.com)
Loyola Sacred Heart (# 3, 6B) vs Thompson Falls (#2, 7B)- Loyola Sacred Heart won 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-19)
Winners Bracket (5) Eureka vs Anaconda, Eureka won this match 3-2 (16-25, 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 15-9)
(6) Florence vs Loyola, Florence Defeated Loyola 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-22)
Thursday, November 02
(7) Deer Lodge vs St.Ignatius/Mission, Deer Lodge won this match 3-1 (25-17, 25-18, 23-25, 25-21)
(8) Thompson Falls vs Plains, Thompson Falls wins 3-0 (25-10, 25-13, 25-15)
(9) Loyola vs Deer Lodge, Deer Lodge wins 3-2 (20-25, 23-25, 25-16, 25-18, 15-12)
(10) Thompson Falls vs Anaconda, Thompson Falls wins 3-1 (25-16, 18-25, 25-20, 25-23)
(11) Florence vs Eureka, Florence wins 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 26-24)
(12) Thompson Falls vs Deer Lodge, Deer Lodge 3-1 (19-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-20)
Friday, November 03
(13) Deer Lodge vs Eureka, Eureka wins 3-0 (25-10, 27-25, 25-22)
(14) Eureka vs Florence, Florence wins 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 22-25, 25-18)
State Matchups: Thursday, November 09
Eureka (2W) vs Huntley Project (1S)
Deer Lodge (3W) vs Fairfield (1N)
Columbus (3S) vs Florence (1W)
State B
Thursday
Game 1: Huntley Project vs. Eureka, 10 a.m.
Game 2: Fairfield vs. Deer Lodge, noon Game 3: Florence vs. Columbus, 2 p.m.
Game 4: Townsend vs. Fairview, 4 p.m.
Game 5: Winner 1 vs. Winner 2, 6 p.m. Game 6: Winner 3 vs. Winner 4, 8 p.m.
Friday
Game 7: Loser 1 vs. Loser 2, 10 a.m.
Game 8: Loser 3 vs. Loser 4, noon
Game 9: Winner 7 vs. Loser 6, 2 p.m.
Game 10: Winner 8 vs. Loser 5, 4 p.m.
Game 11: Winner 5 vs. Winner 6, 6pm, semifinal
Game 12: Winner 9 vs. Winner 10, 6pm, loser is fourth
Saturday
Game 13: Winner 12 vs. Loser 11, l10 a.m., loser is third
Game 14: Winner 11 vs. Winner 13, noon, championship
Game 15: 2 p.m., if necessary
Kommentare