Eagles attack in the MAC

By Bruce Sayler - 11/16/2008

Walter Hinick / The Montana Standard lewistown Golden Eagle defenders Shandy Songer, left, and LeAnn Quinlan block Belgrade's Jessica Spaulding's shot during the final game of the championship match Saturday during the Central A volleyball divisional. Lewistown beat Belgrade to win the championship.

Apparently, you have to get to the Lewistown team early to beat the Eagles in volleyball.

Such as, early in the season. The defending state Class A champs' only losses this year occurred in the first two weekends of the season, and none was against a Class A team.

Lewistown lost to Class AA Bozeman and Helena High at the Great Falls Invitational tournament that began the season, and then to 2007 Class B runner-up Townsend the following weekend in the Windy City Classic tourney played in Livingston.

"I think it was a great team effort by all my kids on the court," Eagles head coach Tara Taylor said Saturday evening in the Maroon Activities Center after the squad bested Belgrade 25-6, 25-23, 25-12 in the championship match of the Central A Divisional tournament. "They've had a lot of court time together, know where everybody is going to be and just play together."

Both Lewistown and Belgrade advance to the Thursday-through-Saturday state Class A tournament set for Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the Montana State University campus in Bozeman.

Other Central A matches on Saturday saw Belgrade down

Havre 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 in the loser-out/semifinal match after play for the day opened with Lewistown downing Belgrade 25-12, 25-7, 25-15 in the winners' bracket semifinal, and Havre topping host Butte Central 25-17, 25-16, 25-23 in a loser-out match. The Maroons placed fourth in the tournament. Havre placed third.

Lewistown 3, Belgrade 0 (Championship)

Setting, hitting, passing, digging and blocking were all working just five for Lewistown as it picked on the tiring Panthers, who were playing in their third tough match of the day.

Shandy Songer's 10 kills led a team total of 30 for the hard-hitting Eagles. They also had 11 blocks, including four each by LeAnn Quinlan and Arielle Allen. Setter extraordinaire Brinna Boettger dished up 23 assists. Quinlan, a powerful hitter packed in a smaller package, scooped 14 digs, and Cassie Byerly belted five ace serves in a strong display of team play.

The Lewistown defense smudged Belgrade's stats with Meagan Bell's 11 digs being the only double-digit number a Panther posted. The team was held to 10 assists and 13 kills.

"I wanted the kids to play well — to play with intensity, focus and energy," Taylor said. "We had to have good ball control to execute. We were pretty flawless (Saturday) morning (in beating Belgrade in the semifinal) and then we came out and played well again."

Experience has been important to the Eagles' success, their coach acknowledged.

"Brinna does a great job on running our offense and has for two years," Taylor said. "A lot has to do with ball control and being able to get the pass and send it on to the hitters.

"LeAnn gets up and hits the ball and is just an explosive hitter for us."

The championship match started with Lewistown scoring the first 12 points. Byerly served and chalked up two aces in a run that inlcuded two kills and a block by Quinlan and two kills and two blocks by Songer.

Kirsten Nelson hammered a kill to put Belgrade on the board and the teams traded possessions for awhile. Allen served out from 20-6, one point being an ace, game point coming on a Byerly kill and the winner being a tip by Kylee Snapp.

Belgrade bounced back and led early in the second game. The Panthers yielded the lead, but stayed very close, and even forged a 21-all tie on a Jackie Dringle kill. An Allen kill put Lewistown ahead for good. An Allen tip made for game point at 24-22. A Lewistown try then traveled too far before a Byerly kill secured the Eagles' 2-0 match advantage.

Gas might have been cheaper in the area than it had been in about two years, but Belgrade's fuel tank was dropping toward empty.

The Panthers had played hard and looked fatigued. They were also brave enough to try to ignore such adversity.

But a rash of errors surrounding a Boettger tip put Belgrade in a 13-6 hole and the Panthers were unable to catch up again.

A carry call against Belgrade put Lewistown at game point, 24-12. Boettger then set Quinlan up for the tourney-ending kill and she executed it.

Lewistown def. Belgrade 25-6, 25-23, 25-12.

Kills — Lewistown 30 (Shandy Songer 10, LeAnn Quinlan 6), Belgrade 13 (Jackie Dringle 5, Jillian Gue 3, Kirsten Nelson 3). Assists — Lewistown 24 (Brinna Boettger 23), Belgrade 10 (Briana Parker 8, Natasha Finkbeiner 2). Aces — Lewistown 11 (Cassie Byerly 5, Quinlan 2), Belgrade 5 (Parker 2). Digs — Lewistown 43 (Quinlan 14, Byerly 11), Belgrade 44 (Meagan Bell 11, Kelsey Martin 8, Gue 5). Blocks — Lewistown 11 (Quinlan 4, Arielle Allen 4), Belgrade 2 (Dringle 1, Gue 1). Lewistown 3, Belgrade 0

Lewistown 3, Belgrade 0 (semifinal_

Brinna Boettger quarterbacked the win with her effective setting that sprayed the ball around to a wave of Lewistown hitters. The defending state champion Eagles looked to click on all cylinders as they beat a good Belgrade squad 25-12, 25-7, 25-15 in the winners' bracket semifinal.

Lewistown followed its hot opening game, a 25-12 win, by scoring the first 15 points of the second game behind the serving of Cassie Byerly. She dealt two of her match-high seven aces in the run. Highlights of the surge included three kills by LeAnn Quinlan, and a kill and block by Shandy Songer.

The Eagles reached game point at 24-6 on an ace by Kate Monger. The winner was a kill by Arielle Allen after a Belgrade side-out and point.

Lewistown jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the third game with Songer serving two aces in a short run. Belgrade stayed close and was at 16-12 after a Jillian Gue kill. Two Eagles errors made it a 16-14 score and then Allen smashed an ace.

It gave Lewistown control of the serve. Quinlan then served out for the Eagles, blasting four aces en route. A kill by Byerly made for a 24-14 game point. Quinlan's last ace ended the match.

Lewistown def. Belgrade 25-12, 25-7, 25-15

Kills n Lewistown 31 (LeAnn Quinlan 11, Shandy Songer 9), Belgrade 14 (Kirsten Neson 4, Lindsey Halgren 3). Assists n Lewistown 28 (Brinna Boettger 26), Belgrade 14 (Brianna Parker 9, Natasha Finkbeiner 4). Aces n Lewistown 13 (Cassie Byerly 7, Quinlan 5), Belgrade 1 (Kelsey Martin). Digs n Lewistown 26 (Byerly 7, Leah Berry 6), Belgrade 31 (Jillian Gue 10, Martin 6). Blocks n Lewistown 6 (Arielle Martin 4, Songer 2), Belgrade 0.

Havre 3, Butte Cenral 0 (loser out)

Havre executed, perhaps, its best two shots of the match while ending it and denying Butte Central a step toward a trip to state.

The Maroons, playing host to the divisional tourney for the first time and in its 4-year-old MAC facility, played harder as the match progressed n battling the Blue Ponies hardest at the end. Havre withstood.

The win in the loser-out was by 25-17, 25-16, 25-23 and the BC club wound up in fourth place. The last two shots of the match were driven kills by Blue Ponies big hitters Karla Hellegaard and Mariah Armstrong. Butte Central had rallied to tie 23-all, the tying point scored on a four-hit violation by Havre.

The Maroons led 21-20 and then suffered two hitting errors. The left-handed, high-jumping Hellegaard posted a block, but BC's Brianna Dudley then knifed a kill through the Blue Ponies' defense. The four-hit violation soon followed and the game, as well as match, went to the wire.

Servers Sarah Blessum and Hayley Donovan pushed Havre to leads of 8-4 and 17-9 in the first game. Saidee Johnston took her turn at the line for Butte Central and helped bring the Maroons back to 20-15 on an ace and a couple of Blue Ponies miscues. Armstrong followed with two hard kills and a tip and Havre was in control again.

An Armstrong kill put the Blue Ponies at game point, 24-17, and then a BC shot was barely wide of the side boundary.

Second-game play saw Janelle Job go to serve for Havre with the scored knotted at 9-all. A carry call against Butte Central followed by a Hellegaard kill, tip and then block, made it a 13-9 Blue Ponies advantage. They kept the lead the rest of the way. They got to the 24-16 game point on a push shot by Hayley Donovan, then won when a BC try missed clearing the net from the side.

Hellegaard finished the match with 18 kills and Armstrong notched 12. Blessum set 36 of the team's 37 assists and acrobatic libero Holly Cartwright had 19 digs.

Maroons leaders included Johnston and Kourtney Kambich with 14 digs each, Quinn Peoples with 10 digs. Setter Katie Lyons had 22 assists and scored three times on dump, fake sets poked over the net.

Havre def. Butte Central 25-17, 25-16, 25-23.

Kills n Havre 38 (Karla Hellegaard 18, Mariah Armstrong 12), Butte Central 26 (Quinn Peoples 10, Brianna Dudley 7, Lexie Murphy 6, Kourtney Kambich 2, Kelly Sandford 1). Assists n Havre 37 (Sarah Blessum 36), Butte Central 24 (Katie Lyons 22, Sandford 1, Kambich 1). Aces n Have 2 (Hellegaard 2), Butte Central 2 (Saidee Johnston 2). Digs n Havre 45 (Holly Cartwright 19), Butte Central 60 (Johnston 14, Kambich 14, Lyons 11, Breanne Krzan 6, Ashley Kasperick 5, Sandford 4, Dudley 3, Peoples 2, Murphy 1). Blocks n Havre 4 (Hellegaard ), Butte Central 2 (Sandford 1, Murphy 1).

Belgrade 3, Havre 0 (loser out/semifinal)

The consolation bracket saw Belgrade turn back challenge after challenge from Havre. Hitters Jillian Gue, Lindsey Halgren a nd Kirsten Nelson were in big roles for the Panthers along with setter Brianna Parker.

Belgrade won three close games, 25-23, 25-21, 25-21. Havre's Karla Hellegaard, Hayley Donovan and Mariah Armstrong were again standouts at the net and libero Holly Cartwright put in another top performance.

Two straight Belgrade shots had sailed wide and then Parker scored on a dump for game point in the third set. Kirsten Haas fenced up a block for the winner.

Nelson angled a kill across the court for the last point of the second game. The first game was even at 23-all and then Havre committed two hitting errors to lose the set.

The Blue Ponies finished in third place.

Belgrade def. Havre 25-23, 25-21, 25-21.

Kills n Havre 34 (Karla Hellegaard 12, Hayley Donovan 10), Belgrade 41 (Jillian Gue 11, Kirsten Nelson 8, Lindsey Halgren 7). Assists n Havre 31 (Sarah Blessum 30), Belgrade 35 (Briana Parker 19, Natasha Finkbeiner 12). Aces n Havre 5 (five with one each), Belgrade 6 (Parker 2, Halgren 2). Digs n Havre 42 (Holly Cartwright 16), Belgrade 72 (Gue 16, Kelsey Martin 15, Finkbeiner 11). Blocks n Havre 3 (Hellegaard 1, Blessum 1), Belgrade 5 (Dringle 2, Kirsten Haaas 2, Mariah Francis 2).