Volleyball finishes third at Northern B, headed to State to play Huntley Project

MALTA – The Glasgow volleyball team clinched their spot in the State championships at the Northern B playoffs by winning their first two games, but fizzled out in the final two days of the tournament to finish third in the division.

The Scotties started off the weekend strong, defeating Shelby handily in their first match of the tournament.

Glasgow dominated the Coyotes for nearly the entire match, easily winning 25-19, 25-12, 25-14.

The following matches were the struggle for the Scotties.

In the match against Fairfield, the last match on Thursday, the winner would guarantee its spot at State, as the top three teams from Northern B were taken this year.

The Scotties brought their momentum into the match and had the Eagles on the ropes in the first set. Glasgow went up 24-20 in the match, but caught a snag and wasn't able to close Fairfield out. The Eagles scored the next five points of the set, and seven of the last 8, winning the first set 27-25.

Fairfield was even better in the second set, as Glasgow was completely falling off its hinges in the match. The Scotties couldn't right themselves in the set and kept committing errors, eventually losing the set 25-17.

In the huddle following the set, emotions were flying, but some seniors reminded the team to do the little things and let the game follow.

Whatever was said worked as the Scotties looked every bit like the juggernaut they showed to be through district play. The team came out in the the third set and dominated the Eagles, beating them 25-13.

The play was much closer in the fourth set as Glasgow looked to extend play into the final set and Fairfield fought to finish out the Scotties and take their trip to state. The score went back and forth throughout the set but the Scotties were able to stretch out a lead near the end going up 23-20.

Yet, Fairfield again caught back up tying the score at 23-23, and making most of the fans in red on the sideline hold their breath. But unlike in the first set the Scotties regained their composure and won the next two points to win 25-23 and move to the fifth and final set.

The play was close again in the fifth set, but the Scotties were on too much of a roll to lose, winning the set 15-13 to win the match 3-2.

“There was huge emotion and a sense of urgency to (win Thursday) because that is an assured trip to State,” head coach Lori Dailey said following the match. “We were tight the first two games but we just asked them to do the little things and everything would fall back into place.”

The Scotties were never able to match that emotion for the rest of the tournament. After playing brilliantly on Thursday, the Scotties dropped the next two matches of the tournament in straight sets.

Glasgow took on Choteau on Friday, but was unable to match the passing game the Bulldogs brought to the table. Choteau was playing amazing for the entire tournament and would eventually win the division championship by beating Wolf Point in the final match 3-0. The Bulldogs didn't drop a set for the entire tournament.

On Saturday, the Scotties were playing Wolf Point for a chance to get a rematch with the Bulldogs, but were unsuccessful losing 3-0 for the second consecutive match.

Even though the Scotties finished third, they continue their play this postseason. The Scotties will be heading to State this weekend, and will take on Huntley Project in the opening round.

“They play at a high level all the time and they've been to state before so they're probably used to the atmosphere,” Dailey said. “I definitely feel like we're the underdog but sometime the underdog takes it.”

The Scotties will look to speed up their game and use their passing skill to destroy the Huntley block, something that worked well against Glendive earlier in the season.

“It's going to take solid play all around, but this is State,” Dailey said. “It's the top eight B teams in the state and that's what you want. You want hard matches.”

Glasgow tips off against Huntley Project at 2 p.m. on Thursday at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman.