Sugarbeeters play well at Northern C, Fall to Belt, Simms as Season Ends
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The Chinook Sugarbeeters concluded their season at the Northern C Divisional. Their three seniors played a huge roll in the teams success this fall and played very well for the 'Beeters in Belt. Senior Allison Powell delivers a strong attack against the Husky defense.
The Chinook Sugarbeeters were in Belt this past week at the Northern C Divisional. The Sugarbeeters were anxious to see how they stacked up against the divisions best with a trip to the Class C State tournament in Bozeman on the line. The 'Beeters played extremely well in their three matches at the Northern C but still came up short.
The 'Beeters opened the tournament against the 7C No. 2 Seed Belt Huskies. In a match that certainly could have gone either way it was Belt that earned a 25-20, 25-23, 25-23 win. In loser out action Chinook cruised past the 6C No. 4 Seed Valier Panthers in straight sets 25-16, 25-23, 25-22.
With a chance to keep their season alive the 'Beeters took on the 7C No. 1 Seed Simms Tigers and lost in four grueling sets 25-27, 21-25, 25-18, 26-28. The 'Beeters lost six sets at the Northern C by a combined 17 points and won four by 21. Half of the 10 sets the 'Beeters played were decided by two-points.
Thursday afternoon in the 'Beeters first match they faced off against the 6C No. 2 Belt Huskies. The Huskies took a slim lead 15-12 in set one before the 'Beeters closed the gap to 16-15. The 'Beeters couldn't get over the hump down the stretch in a 25-20 opening set loss.
Chinook has been able to rally after as a set loss extremely well during the season and were looking to do the same here. This go around the Huskies would collect back to back 25-23 set wins to sweep the match. Sophomore Hallie Neibauer led the attack with eight kills in the heartbreaking loss. Sophomore Mya Berreth recorded 10 Assists to lead the team while junior Bree Swanson dug up 11 balls.
Chinook then faced the Valier Panthers in Loser Out action Friday morning. This time the 'Beeters flipped the script winning the first set 25-16 before pulling out nail-biting set wins of 25-23, 25-22 to sweep the Panthers.
Swanson led the attack with nine Kills while senior Tylie Richman delivered 16 Assists.
Friday afternoon the 'Beeters played the top seed out of the District 6C in the Simms Tigers.
The two teams delivered their best shots in set number one, going the distance in a tough 27-25 win by the Tigers. Simms then won set number two 25-21 to put the 'Beeters on the brink of elimination.
Chinook showed a ton of heart in set number three righting the ship and cutting the Tiger lead in half with a 25-18 set win.
The fourth set would end up being the deciding one with the Tigers winning a hard fought back and fourth 28-26 barn burner to win the match 3-1.
Neibauer was a force at the net slamming home 17 Kills while collecting five total Blocks as well. Swanson added 10 Kills and four Blocks of her own. Berreth led the team with 18 Assists while senior Shay Hauer served up a trio of Aces. Neibauer also led the team with 14 digs, Hauer added 13 and Swanson 11 for the 'Beeter defense.
The Chinook Sugarbeeters concluded their season at the Northern C Divisional. Their three seniors played a huge roll in the teams success this fall and played very well for the 'Beeters in Belt. Senior Shay Hauer hits over the Belt block.
"We had an exciting, divisional tourney mostly due to the incredibly close match that we had in the end versus Simms," said Chinook Head Coach Paula Molyneaux afterwords. "Obviously we would have liked to have gone further and ended at least in the top four, but I was very proud of our team, for the way that they handled the set back of a loss to Belt in the opening round and for the way that they went to battle in the end."
The Belt loss was tough on the girls, "After Belts, we simply reset our goals and tackled the path that was before us. The girls reacted well to the competition and we were so close to beating Simms in the Friday afternoon match," stated Molyneaux. "In the end I felt that we played to our potential, giving us the opportunity to win in the final matches against the toughest teams.
The Sugarbeeters competed hard for every point, every single match of the season and stuck together through the good times and the bad, "The girls played hard, aggressively and with confidence which is what the coaching staff asked of them. Due to our Youth, I think that the majority of the team gained valuable playing experience to take to their future, and of course we will miss the three seniors who contributed outstanding leadership, plus devoted four years of work to the program," concluded Molyneaux.
