Lady Trojans claim District title in marathon comeback
Photo contributed by Crystal Langton
MISSOULA – When Paige Fickler was hired as Drummond’s Head Volleyball Coach this past summer, her mother Leslie asked how she thought they’d do.
“I think we can win a district title with this group,” Fickler said. To which her mother replied, “That’s a long shot with just two returning starters.”
Turns out, Fickler was dead right.
The Lady Trojans claimed the District 13 Volleyball Tournament championship Saturday by beating Seeley Swan in five sets, 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 17-25, 16-14. The win was of a matched forced after the Trojans defeated the Blackhawks for their first loss of the tournament in the championship opener 17-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-21.
Drummond started the day facing their county rivals Granite, which many figured would be another grueling battle to the death. But the lady Prospectors seemed out of sync and fell the Lady Trojans in three straight, 25-19, 28-26, 25-14.
The quick victory saved Drummond’s strength as they headed into the first of what would be two championship matches against undefeated Seeley Swan.
After dropping the opener to the Blackhawks by eight, Drummond won the next three sets to claim the match and force the tie-breaker as both squads now had a single loss. On a roll, the Lady Trojans claimed the first two sets of the rubber match before Seeley could right their ship and win the next two, forcing a Set 5 race to 15.
Tied at 6-6 in the final set, it seemed like everyone from players to fans were drained of both their physical and emotional energy. But then a group of fans – arriving from the Flint Creek Titans’s 8-man football playoff game that had concluded some two hours prior – suddenly appeared in the gym and ramped up the hype for the Lady Trojans.
The added energy seemed to spur on Holly Hauptman who proceeded to drive two aces into the Seeley defense. Liz Perry followed with a dink kill and suddenly Drummond was up 9-6 and forced a Blackhawk timeout. Seeley rallied back with a point, but the Lady Trojans extended their advantage to as many as five before the Blackhawks would eventually even the match against 13-all. Each team scored once to make it 14-14 before Drummond collected the finale two scores highlighted by Hauptman’s block to score the match winner.
“So relieving. It’s over!” said a tired Hauptman after the match. “We worked so hard all year, three hour practices some days. We all just had good games and we worked well and overall just teamwork.”
Hauptman finished with a 38 kills in the two matches, five better than Seeley’s Sariah Maughn at 33.
But no one could remotely match the play of Lady Trojan setter Jesse Struna who had a massive 76 assists over the two match stint. Toss in the 12 she got against Granite in the consolation bracket finale and she finished the day with 88 over 12 sets and she averaged just under 30 per match.
“It takes a lot of work,” said Struna of her assist total. “It’s all about switching up, knowing who’s hot and who wants to hit and who’s ready to hit.
“(The day) so tiring. We got to the fifth match and we said ‘We have to keep going.’ I didn’t see us winning districts, but I saw us working hard and getting here. We played seven games in the last three days and I am just incredibly proud of everybody.”
Drummond played seven matches in three days, starting Thursday with a 3-0 win over Darby and a 2-3 loss to Granite in the winner’s bracket semifinal. In the Consolation bracket Friday they beat Victor and Valley Christian to advance to the first game Saturday in a rematch with Granite.
Drummond will advance to the Western Division Tournament for the second straight year, this time as the No. 1 seed from District 13. They will face the No. 4 ranked team from District 12 in their opener next week at Manhattan Christian.
NOTE – A summary of all of the matches played by both the Drummond Lady Trojans and the Granite Lady Prospectors will be forthcoming Monday on the Flint Creek Courier.
Championship Match 1
SCORING
Drummond – 17/25/25/25 – 3
Seeley Swan – 25/22/20/21 – 1
Kills – (D) Parke 1, Wagner 5, Spencer 1, Hauptman 18, Struna 4, Parsons 1, Nelson 4, Perry 8; (S) Stone 5, Maughan 19, Debernardi 2, Wendel 10, Sexton 1
Blocks – (D) Hauptman 8, Perry 1; (S) Thornsberry 1, Stone 2, Maughan 4, Debernardi 1, Wendel 3
Assists – (D) Struna 33, Nelson 1; (S) Alexander 3, Thornsberry 21
Digs – (D) Parke 20, Hicks 1, Wagner 4, Spencer 5, Hauptman 20, Struna 4, Parsons 1, Perry 4, Williams 8, Rasor 12; (S) n/a
Aces – Hauptman 1, Struna 3, Perry 2, Williams 3, Rasor 3; (S) Stone 1, Debernardi 5, Wendel 1
Championship Match 2
SCORING
Drummond – 25/26/22/17/16 – 3
Seeley Swan – 21/24/25/25/14 – 2
Kills – (D) Wagner 4, Hauptman 30, Struna 2, Parsons 2, Nelson 1, Perry 15; (S) Thorsnberry 2, Stone 6, Maughan 16, Debernardi 3, Wendel 10
Blocks – (D) Hauptman 5; (S) Thornsberry 1, Maughan 4, Debernardi 1
Assists – (D) Struna 43, Nelson 3, Rasor 1; (S) Alexander 1, Thorsnberry 17, Stone 4, Wendel 2, Sexton 1
Digs – (D) Parke 24, Wagner 9, Spencer 1, Hauptman 31, Struna 13, Parsons 1, Nelson 2, Perry 6, Williams 12, Rasor 11; (S) n/a
Aces – (D) Spencer 1, Hauptman 5, Struna 2, Perry 1, Rasor 2; (S) – Thorsnberry 5, Stone 4, Maughan 2, Debernardi 2, Sexton 1
*NOTE – Seeley Swan stats are unofficial.
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