'Beeters, Lady Cats continue to impress on the Volleyball Court in weekend action

 

October 9, 2019



The Chinook Surgarbeeters dispatched the Big Sandy Pioneers in three quick sets Friday on the road to remain undefeated in the District 6C-East and then turned in a solid performance Saturday in Fort Benton, finishing second in the Longhorns mid-season tournament. The Harlem Lady Cats also earned a sweep dispatching the Poplar Indians on the road in straight sets. Saturday the Lady Cats rebounded from a first set loss to defeat the Wolves in Wolf Point in four sets and solidify their hold on the number two seed in the District 2B.

The ‘Beeters have had their way in the District 6C-East for a long time and Friday evening in Big Sandy they continued to outplay their conference foes on the court. Chinook took care of Big Sandy quickly. Set number one was over quickly with Chinook storming to a 25-6 win. Set number two was a bit more competitive, but the ‘Beeters still prevailed 25-19. Set number three was virtual replay of the opener with Chinook winning easily 25-8.

Junior Hailey Bell’s 10 Kills led the attack. Freshman Bree Swanson slammed home eight Kills of her own on just 14 attacks. Junior Ginger Hauer has 24 Assists. Junior Delaney Kellam torched the Pioneer defense with five Aces in the win.

Saturday in Fort Benton the the ‘Beeters looked to embrace the format of a mid-season tournament and capitalize on the opportunity to do just that. in Pool play the ‘Beeters went undefeated taking down a trio of opponents.

In their first match of the day the ‘Beeters faced the Centerville Miners and won the match 2-0. Chinook started fast and finished strong, winning the opening set 25-13 and closing out the match in set number two with a 25-13 win.

Match number two of the day had the Sugarbeeters taking on the Cascade Badgers. Chinook again exerted their dominance from the get go jumping out to a big lead early and then cruising to a 25-14 win. Set number two was even more lopsided with Chinook sealing the victory over the Badgers with a 25-9 second set win to take the match 2-0.

In the ‘Beeters final pool play match they faced the Fort Benton JV. The team was a little disjointed in their attack and on defense but still secured a hard fought win. The ‘Beeters and Longhorns finished 26-24, 24-25 with Chinook taking total points 50-49. Chinook would finish Pool play 3-0 to advance to the Championship Bracket.

Looking to step up their performance on the court, the ‘Beeters took on the Augusta Elk in a semifinal contest. Chinook won the opening set 25-15 and took a hard fought second set 25-21 to advance to the championship match.

In the finale the ‘Beeters would face the Fort Benton Varsity who earned their spot in the championship following a hard fought 2-1 win over the Longhorn JV.

Fort Benton took the opening set in a back and forth affair that had the Longhorns seizing the momentum down the stretch to win 25-19. Chinook turned in a valiant effort in set number two, but fell in the end 25-22 to finish second in the tournament.

On the day the ‘Beeter attack was paced by the effort of junior Hailey Bell who finished the day with 27 Kills. Junior Delaney Kellam added 21 Kills while junior Jayden Miller slammed home 15. Junior Ginger Hauer powered the offensive attack setting up the hitters with 62 of the teams 73 Assists. Kellam added eight Aces to her strong performance while Hauer served up seven.

Defensively, Miller dug up 36 balls to keep the point alive. Junior Lily Surber recorded 26 digs on the day and Kellam collected 23.

“For the varsity, Big Sandy was a nice conference win and as a team, we hit and served extremely well. In addition, I was very excited to see continued improvement in our younger squads who also swept Big Sandy C and JV in 3-0 matches and showed marked improvement in the offensive and defensive parts of their game,” said Head Coach Paula Molyneaux.

Molyneaux was satisfied with her teams effort Saturday in Fort Benton, “All in all it was a good day, We didn’t feel we played our best in the pool play matches, but the girls rallied in the afternoon and came into tourney play with an intense and never say die mindset. I like these tournaments as they provide lots of playing time, opportunity to work on our game and we see some of the teams in our Division that we don’t normally compete against until the post season.”

The ‘Beeters were on the road Tuesday, taking on the Malta M-ettes, results will be in next weeks paper. Thursday the ‘Beeters will return home to challenge the Hays/Lodge Pole Thunderbirds with the JV first serve set for 4:00 p.m.. The team will then travel to Chester on Tuesday, October 15 to take on the Hawks.

The Harlem Lady Cats began the week looking to solidify their hold on the District 2B number two seed. They began with a road trip to Poplar to take on the Indians Friday night. Harlem continued their impressive play on the court winning the opening set convincingly 25-11. Harlem was even more impressive in set number two, cruising to a 25-9 set win.

Looking to dispatch the Indians in straight sets, The Lady Cats took the home teams best effort of the night, but prevailed in the end 25-19 to pickup the conference win. Senior Aspen Baker and senior Sarah Billmayer each tallied six Kills in the win for the Lady Cat attack. Baker served up eight Aces in the match. Senior Aria Owens recorded eight Assists and senior Naveah Spotted Eagle dug up six balls for the defense.

Saturday the team headed to Wolf Point to face the Wolves in another District 2B contest. The Wolves got the better of the Lady Cats in the first set, taking the opener 25-20.

Harlem would show their resolve in set number two as they rebounded for a quick 25-14 win in set number two to even the match 1-1.

Set number three saw the Lady Cats seize the momentum and go up 2-1 following tough back and fourth 25-23 win in set number three. In the fourth set Harlem maintained their composure on the court and closed out the Wolves 25-21 to win the match 3-1.

Senior Layla Skidmore led the offensive attack with eight kills and junior Shyan Krass added six in the win. Seniors Taeshon Schaeffer and Aria Owens each recorded nine Assists on the night. Schaeffer also served up seven Aces and dug up 21 balls for the Lady Cats.

“Each night we were on the attack, and that is what led to our success this past weekend. It was a total team win, we are really playing team volleyball and believing in one another,” said Head Coach Kim Faulkinberry. “We are right now in the right frame of mind that we just want to win and everyone has bought into the concept of ‘do whatever it takes’.”

With the pair of conference wins the Lady Cats continued their impressive start to the season in what may be the best in school history.

Harlem will begin the upcoming week with a trip to Malta where they will look to complete the season sweep of the M-ettes. Saturday the team will be in Glasgow to face the Scotties. This match features the top seeded Scotties and the number two seeded Lady Cats in a battle for conference supremacy. The Scotties are the only team to defeat Harlem in Conference play, sweeping the Lady Cats a couple of weeks ago. A much improved team week to week, Harlem will be looking to turn the tide in this huge conference clash.

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/24/2024 00:52