St. Regis takes second place in regional tournament

ST. REGIS – The St. Regis Lady Tigers met with success during the regional tournament last week, advancing to the next stage of the competition.

The team won in five sets in the game against the Hot Springs Lady Savage Heat on Friday. Though the first two sets saw decisive victories, the game was close. The next two sets saw Hot Springs threaten the Lady Tigers’ win, but St. Regis pulled through and took the match.

Head Coach Jennifer Pruitt said the Lady Tigers started the game strong and finished just as strong. While the team had some problems in the middle of the game, their tactics pulled them through.

“In the last game, serving is what got us through,” said Pruitt.

According to Pruitt, junior Gabby Moeller scored 23 of the game’s 51 kills and nine of the 12 blocks. Freshman Madison Hill was commended for her 34 set assists, as was senior Arianna Jones for her aces and digs.

Pruitt described the game as the best of the season. With so many fans and supporters in attendance, the girls were energized by the enthusiasm.

“Every play the fans were on their feet cheering,” said Pruitt. “It has been awhile since St. Regis got this excited about anything.”

After defeating Hot Springs, the Lady Tigers moved on to determine which teams would be in the championships.

Their next game was against the Charlo Lady Vikings on Saturday. St. Regis won the game in four sets with Jones serving 12 points to win the final set. Pruitt said Moeller got 28 kills and Jones had 15. Both girls also got multiple blocks, digs and aces.

This game was also close, but the final match was a huge success with a 14 point difference. Pruitt said the girls were in a good mood for the game. Still pumped from their win against Hot Springs, the Lady Tigers played especially well.

This win put the Lady Tigers into the championships for the district level of the tournament. The girls played Charlo again and lost in four sets.

The championship game started a little rough for the Lady Tigers, with Charlo winning the first two sets. However, the girls were able to pull back for the third before seeing a final loss in the fourth.

Moeller and Jones continued to shine with Moeller getting 29 kills while Jones got 15. Hill also played well during the game, getting 32 set assists. Pruitt said the game’s aces were spread evenly among the whole team.

Pruitt feels the team had cooled down before the game and attributed their loss to the drop in energy. The Lady Tigers had a break of more than five hours before their first championship match.

“We just couldn’t get woken up…between our game at noon and our next game,” said Pruitt.

Since the tournament was double elimination, the Lady Tigers were able to play another championship game, but lost it as well. Pruitt said the score gap for the game was much larger than the previous ones.

Still hurting from their loss, the girls did not play as well as the games earlier in the day. The team’s stats were much lower than earlier and spread more evenly across the board.

When the day ended the Lady Tigers were in second place, sending them on to the next level of the tournament. The divisional tournament will be held in Butte on Thursday.

Pruitt expects divisionals to be a tough day. With several good teams, including last season’s champions, it is expected to be a hard fight.