Tournament draws 12 teams

Twelve volleyball teams from throughout Western Montana came to Superior and St. Regis Saturday to compete in the Mineral County Shootout Volleyball Tournament.

The tournament, which lasted more than 12 hours, from 8:30 a.m. to around 9 p.m., was divided up into two different pools of teams. Arlee, Granite, Victor, Hot Springs, St. Regis and Two Eagle River competed at St. Regis High School and Alberton, Charlo, Drummond, Lincoln, Noxon and Superior competed at Superior High School.

Each team played the other team in their pool once, in a thirty minute match that consisted of two fifteen-point games.

If the matches were split, the tie was broken with the total number of points from the match. If the total number of points was also tied the match was decided by a coin toss.

The top two teams from each pool, determined by which team had won the most matches, competed against each other in the finals which were held at St. Regis High School. The winning four teams played in first a semi final match to determine the top two teams that would compete for first place in the tournament.

In the semi-final and final matches of the day, the first two games of the match were played to 25 points and the final game was played to 15.

The Arlee Scarlets won the tournament overall, defeating the Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat in their final match by winning the first two games 25-19 and 25-9. The Scarlets defeated the Drummond Lady Trojans in the semi-final match and the Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat defeated the Charlo Lady Vikings in their semi-final match.

Alberton

The Alberton Lady Panthers came in fourth place out of the six teams that competed in the Superior pool Saturday, winning two of their five games.

“I don’t really know if we’ve played up to our full potential yet,” said head coach Sean Lockrem, who said that the team played well in some of their games Saturday but struggled in others.

The Lady Panthers lost their game against Charlo, won their game against Lincoln, lost their game against Drummond, won their game against Noxon and lost their game against Superior.

Lockrem said that the team has a lot of talent but they still have some work to do as far as teamwork is concerned.

“If anything they started to talk a little better but our weak point is that we’re not playing 100 percent as a team,” Lockrem said.

He added that if the team can start communicating better and more consistently throughout their games they stand to improve greatly.

The Lady Panthers’ victory over Noxon Saturday was a big one for them because the last time they faced Noxon they lost 3 to 0.

Lockrem said that the team really came together and played well against Noxon, proving that they are a strong group and are capable of some forceful playing.

Superior

The Superior Lady Bobcats came in third place out of the six teams that competed in the Superior pool Saturday, missing a spot in the final match by only half of a match.

The Lady Bobcats won two of their matches, split two others and lost only one match Saturday.

The Lady Bobcats split their games against Noxon and Drummond, won their games against Lincoln and Alberton and lost to Charlo.

“The girls played extremely well, half of a game and they would have been right in there,” said Lady Bobcats Head Coach Diane Woodard.

The Lady Bobcats lost to Noxon the last time they played them, and Woodard said had the team been playing up to their full potential at the 10 a.m. match they would have won.

“We have a real hard time getting going in the morning,” Woodard said.

Senior Sami Woodard led the team in kills for the day. Woodard added that senior Kaila Smith did exceedingly well with passing and led the team in digs. Seniors Alex Conrow and Tara Bauer served well the entire day, leading the team in aces.

“They just seemed to be working really well as a team,” Woodard said.

Woodard also commended sophomore Kaylee Crabb for her performance in Saturday’s tournament and the team’s past games.

“As a sophomore coming off the bench whenever anyone’s having a bad day of serving she’s been really consistent for the past couple of weeks and that’s been really helpful,” Woodard said.

Woodard said that despite the Lady Bobcats played extremely well over the tournament and they showed some serious improvement.

“Overall from former games we improved definitely,” Woodard said.

St. Regis

The St. Regis Lady Tigers had a strong showing at Saturday’s tournament, tying for third place with Granite High School. The Lady Tigers lost both of their games against Hot Springs and Arlee, won both of their games against Two Eagle and Granite and split their match against Victor.

“They played fairly strong,” said Lady Tigers Head Coach Cindy Feasel.

Feasel said that the two standout players of the tournament were junior Morgan Hill and sophomore Leandra Baldwin.

“Both of them when they came in really stepped up their game,” Feasel said.

She added that Hill played extraordinarily well and really helped the team pull through some of their tougher matches.

“I think Morgan probably had the best game out of anybody, just coming in off the bench and really putting forth a great effort. She really kind of changed the momentum of the game in a couple places,” Feasel said.

While they performed well in several of their matches, Feasel said that the team still has a long way to go to perfect their passing game.

“Our passing is still not quite to target and it’s just making our setter run everywhere and it just makes us all over the floor,” Feasel said.

She added that they also need to work on their setting, but the team has shown a lot of strong play so far this season.

Both of the teams that made it to the final championship game in the tournament came out of the St. Regis pool, however, Feasel is hesitant to say that her team had a tougher time than those in the Superior pool.

“Well it all depends on how you look at it,” Feasel laughed. “Everybody likes to think they were on the tougher side.”