County teams win semifinals matches, head toward Friday morning clash
MISSOULA – The Lady Trojans and Lady Prospectors were in action Thursday, battling District 13C teams for a shot at a trip to the Divisional Tournament.
Drummond def. Valley Christian 25-23, 25-12, 16-25, 25-16
Valley took an early lead in the opening set before Drummond rallied to move ahead 18-17 and eventually win by two. The Lady Trojans controlled the second set, but the Lady eagles were far from done. They took Set three and pushed hard into the fourth before Drummond eventually ran away with the victory.
“Valley Came to play,” said DHS Head Coach Sam Larson of her team’s third set loss. “They got some momentum and got back into it. I was very pleased with how we recovered after that.”
Senior Delaney Wagner unloaded on the Lady Eagles, hammering 20 kills for Drummond. She was fed on most of those by Lexi Nelson (22 assists) and Anna Kate Sawfer (17 assists). Wagner was also tops in digs at 13 with Bailey Parke and Nelson close behind at 10. Brooke Hicks led in service aces with 5.
Drummond advances to the Winner’s Bracket final where they will face Granite Friday morning at 10 a.m.
SCORING
Drummond – 25/25/16/25 – 3
Valley Christian – 23/12/25/16 – 1
STATISTICS
Kills – Parke 6, Wagner 20, Nelson 5, RCline 5, CCline 1, Parsons 6
Blocks – Rcline 1, Parsons 1
Assists – Nelson 22, RCline 2, ASawfer 17,
Digs – Hicks 6, Parke 10, Wagner 13, Nelson 10, RCline 2, CCline 3, ASawfer 5, Parsons 8, HSawfer 4
Aces – Hicks 5, Parke 1, Nelson 4, Parsons 4
Granite def. Seeley Swan 25-12, 25-9, 25-16
The Lady Prospectors took control early and never looked back as they posted a straight set win over Seeley.
“I think that we deserve it because we’ve worked really hard this season,” said junior setter Ella Tallon of reaching the finale against Drummond. “We haven’t won districts since 2004, so … I think it’s our trun to do something.”
Tallon finished the match with 16 assists five aces. Addison Spehar tied her with five service aces of her own.
Granite had few matches during the final weeks of the season, leaving lots of time to fine tune for the district tournament.
“We worked on a little bit of everything,” said GHS Head Coach Kayley Hansen. “Defense, our hitting, we touched on a lot of stuff.”
Montannah Piar led Granite’s attack with nine kills and a block, while Ramsey Smith and Addi Lilyquist each added five. Lilyquist was the top blocker with 2.5 and Smith delivered a team best seven digs on defense.
Granite will face Drummond in the Winner’s Bracket final. The winner advances to the championship round while the loser drops into the consolation bracket.
SCORING
Granite – 25/25/25 – 3
Seeley Swan – 12/9/16 – 0
STATISTICS
Kills – Smith 5, Benson 2, Spehar 2, Piar 9, Lilyquist 5
Blocks – Smith 1, Tallon .5, Piar 1, Lilyquist 2.5
Assists – Benson 1, Spehar 1, Tallon 16
Digs – Smith 7, Benson 1, Spehar 3, Tallon 1, Piar 2, Lilyquist 6
Aces – Smith 1, Benson 2, Spehar 5, Tallon 5, Piar 3, Lilyquist 1
