Hi-Line Volleyball Roundup: Beeters edge Knights for state tourney berth

For the second straight year, the North Star volleyball team came within one win of reaching the Class C state tournament, capping off yet another great season for the Knights.

But unlike last year’s Northern C Divisional tourney, in 2013, the Knights were knocked out by one of their biggest rivals.

On Saturday, in the third-place match of the Northern C Divisional tournament in Conrad, the Chinook Sugarbeeters punched their ticket to the Class C state tourney with a four-game win over the rival 6C East Knights. The Beeters went on to lose to Belt in a three-game sweep in the Northern C championship match, but no matter, Chinook is headed back to the state tournament for the first time since the Beeters captured the 2005 Class C state title.

Chinook’s only two losses in Conrad were at the hands of the powerful Belt Huskies, including a 25-19, 25-11 and 25-21 defeat in the title match. In that match, Makhayla Farmer had 15 kills and seven blocks, while Hannah Weber totaled 10 assists and three aces.

But the biggest win of Chinook’s season came Saturday morning when the Beeters beat the Knights by scores of 25-23, 15-25, 25-16 and 25-23 in a rematch of last week’s 6C East championship match. As expected, the fourth meeting between the two Hi-Line rivals was a good one, but a dominant performance in the critical third set gave Chinook the cushion it needed to pull off the win and advance to Bozeman.

Farmer had 13 kills and nine blocks for Chinook, while Madison McCann had 16 digs. In North Star’s final match of the season, Melissa Pester totaled 15 kills and 12 blocks, while Bettie Carlon added 59 digs and Whitney Wendland had four aces.

North Star battled all tournament long. The Knights opened with a three-game sweep of Sunburst Thursday, beating the Refiners by scores of 25-19, 25-15 and 25-17. Pester had 15 kills in the win, while Mackenzie Hansen totaled 37 digs and five service aces. The victory gave the Knights a shot at top-ranked Belt, and they battled hard, pushing the Huskies to four games. However, in the end, Belt won by scores of 25-20, 14-25, 25-5 and 25-18. In the loss, Pester had 11 kills and Hansen had 49 digs, while Tylynn Rettig had six blocks.

The loss to Belt Thursday meant the Knights would have to survive two loser-out matches, and they did just that. On Friday, they first beat Fort Benton by scores of 30-28, 13-25, 25-19 and 25-19 to stay alive. Carlon had 16 kills and Hansen racked up 70 digs in the tough win. On Saturday morning, the Knights continued their run with a 25-23, 25-20 and 25-14 sweep of 6C West champion Simms. In the dominating performance, which set up the showdown with Chinook, Carlon and Rettig each had eight kills, while Kiera Miller had seven blocks. Graysen Spicher also had 21 assists.

Meanwhile, the road to the championship match wasn’t easy for the Beeters. Chinook beat Fort Benton by scores of 25-16, 25-8, 15-25 and 25-9 behind 19 kills and 15 blocks from Farmer and 19 digs from Emily Dennis in Thursday’s opening round. The Beeters then took care of Simms Thursday night, by scores of 14-25, 25-19, 25-20 and 25-20.

The hard-fought win over the Tigers put Chinook into the winner’s bracket semifinal Friday night where Belt beat the Beeters by scores of 25-13, 25-17 and 25-17. In Chinook’s first loss of the tourney, Farmer had 21 kills and 11 digs, while Dennis added 15 digs and an ace. Brooke Nicholson also had an ace for Chinook.

Now the Beeters will get set for the Class C state tournament, which starts Thursday morning when they take on Eastern C champion Wibaux in the first round. The state tournament runs Thursday-Saturday in Bozeman.

NORTHERN C

AT CONRAD

THURSDAY

North Star def. Sunburst

25-19, 25-15, 25-17

North Star - Aces 10 (Mackenzie Hansen 5), Kills 37 (Melissa Pester 15), Assists 27 (Graysen Spicher 21), Blocks 17 (Pester 6), Digs 135 (Hansen 37).

Sunburst - Aces 2 (Courtney Lindskog 1, Erika Postma 1), Kills 14 (Lindskog 4), Assists 14 (Lindskog 6), Blocks 2 (Lindsog 1, Justine bye 1), Digs 34 (Jannah Hauschulz 14).

Chinook def. Fort Benton

25-16, 25-8, 15-25, 25-9

Chinook - Adces 10 (Hannah Weber 3), Kills 37 (Makhayla Farmer 19), Assists 22 (Weber 15), blocks 36 (Farmer 15), Digs 76 (Emily Dennis 19).

Fort Benton - Aces 4, Kills 21 (Claassen 12), Assists 19 (Allen 13), Blocks 1 (Hulme 1), Digs 54 (Woodhouse 12).

Belt def. North Star

25-20, 14-25, 25-5, 25-18 (qf)

Belt - Aces 8 (Emily Stoker 3), Kills 44 (Kara Gerke 15), Assists 40 (Josie Stonson 37), Blocks 10 (Taylor Hoyer 5), Digs 66 (Katie Fertterer 17).

North Star - Aces 2 (Mackenzie Hansen, Whitney Wendland), Kills 36 (Melissa Pester 11), Assists 28 (Graysen Spicher 27), blocks 24 (Tylynn Rettig 6), Digs 181 (Hansen 49).

Chinook def. Simms-Augusta

14-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 (qf)

Chinook - Aces 8 (Emily Dennis 4), Kills 42 (Makhayla Farmer 21), Assists 29 (Hannah Weber 21), blocks 22 (Farmer 8), Digs 63 (Dennis 19).

Simms-Augusta - Aces 12 (Kendall Patch 4, Roxie Paranteau 4), Kills 25 (Hollee Meek 10), Assists 20 (Meek 11), Blocks 7 (Patch 4), Digs 69 (Brittany Hoover 14).

FRIDAY

North Star def. Fort Benton

30-28, 13-25, 25-19, 25-19 (lo)

North Star leaders – Kills 52 (Bettie Carlon 16); assists 40 (Graysen Spicher 38); aces 11 (Whitney Wendland 4); digs 216 (Mackenzie Hansen 70); blocks 12 (Bettie Carlon 5, Sheridan O'Neil 5).

Fort Benton leaders – Kills 44 (B. Hulme 20); assists 39 (K. Allen 21); aces 7 (B. Hulme 3); digs 62 (K. Allen 15); blocks 3 (K. Claassen 1, K. Allen 1, B. Hulme 1).

Belt def. Chinook

25-13, 25-17, 25-17 (sf)

Belt - Aces 7 Alison Stoker 3), Kills 44 (kara Gerke 15), Assists 41 (Josie Stinson 37), blocks 9 (Katie Fertterer 5), Digs 76 (Gerke 16).

Chinook - Aces 2 (Brook Nicholson, Emily Dennis), Kills 23 (Makhayla Farmer 21), Assists 18 (Hannah Weber 11), blocks 17 (Farmer 11), Digs 61 (Dennis 15).

SATURDAY

North Star def. Simms

25-23, 25-20, 25-14 (lo)

North Star leaders – Kills 30 (Bettie Carlon 8, Tylynn Rettig 8); assists 21 (Graysen Spicher 21); aces 5 (Bettie Carlon 2, Melissa Pester 2); digs 139 (Makenzie Hansen 39); blocks 28 (Kiera Miller 7).

Simms leaders – Kills 42 (Kendall Patch 11); assists 37 (Hollee Meek 21); aces 8 (Hollee Meek 2, Karen Leonardson 2); digs 60 (Hollee Meek 13); blocks 9 (Kendall Patch 5).

Chinook def. North Star

25-23, 15-25, 25-16, 25-23 (3rd)

Chinook leaders – Kills 34 (Makhayla Farmer 13); assists 32 (Hannah Weber 21); aces 6 (Brooke Nicholson 3, Emily Dennis 3); digs 74 (Madison McCann 16); blocks 23 (Makhayla Farmer 9).

North Star leaders – Kills 35 (Melissa Pester 15); assists 29 (Graysen Spicher 29); aces 9 (Whitney Wendland 4); digs 190 (Bettie Carlon 59); blocks 32 (Melissa Pester 12).

Belt def. Chinook

25-19, 25-11, 25-21 (Championship)

Belt leaders – Kills 33 (Kara Gerke 15); assists 31 (Josie Stinson 29); aces 6 (Josie Stinson 2, Emily Stoker 2, Kara Gerke 2); digs 56 (Emily Stoker 14); blocks 9 (Taylor Hoyer 4).

Chinook leaders – Kills 23 (Makhayla Farmer 15); assists 15 (Hannah Weber 10); aces 4 (Hannah Weber 3); digs 52 (Emily Dennis 13); blocks 14 (Makhayla Farmer 7).