St. Regis Lady Tigers top Trotters in four sets

The St. Regis Lady Tigers volleyball team beat Plains in four sets last Thursday, but it was a battle between the two the entire night.

The Lady Tigers rallied in the first set to beat the Trotters, 25-21. The Trotters returned the favor in the second set with a hard-fought 25-23 win.

But St. Regis began to exhibit more dominance in the third with a 25-16 advantage. Plains battled more in the fourth set, but the Lady Tigers finished the triumph with a 25-20 win.

In the opening set, Averie Burnham helped erase an 11-6 deficit when she served four straight points to put the Lady Tigers up 14-12.

It remained close the rest of the way and when Plains junior Piper Bergstrom delivered a smash, the Trotters trailed by just one, 21-20.

But in the end, the Lady Tigers had enough to finish the deal after Brooke Filek’s kill ended it.

In the second set, strong serving by Lexa Craft staked the Trotters to a 6-1 lead they never relinquished.

St. Regis had closed within three points, 11-8, when Izzy Butcher served for 10 straight. Butcher’s run included five aces and a 21-8 lead.

Lady Tigers head coach Jennifer Pruitt called timeout in the middle of the run, but Plains didn’t lose its momentum.

St. Regis did make a run and closed to within one point, 24-23, on a kill by Macy Hill. But Plains prevailed on the next serve when a volley went out of bounds.

The make-or-break third set belonged to the Lady Tigers, 25-16. A strong start propelled them to leads of 7-3 and 17-8. Hill and Filek delivered some kill shots while Burnham and Hill served well to build a 21-11 lead.

Before the beginning of the fourth set, the 50-50 was drawn and when the winner returned his proceeds, everyone win as the cash went to Special Olympics Montana.

When play resumed, the Lady Tigers used another good start to propel them to the win. More strong serving was pivotal in the win as Burnham had some aces while Baylee Pruitt and Hill also got in on the action.

The Trotters hung in and managed to stay within three points on several occasions as the match neared its end. Butcher and McDonald had big hits for points while Bergstrom served up a few aces.

But after it was 23-20, St. Regis put an end to it with back-to-back kills by Filek and Hurd.

St. Regis is scheduled to host Superior Tuesday while Plains hosts Bigfork.