Postseason volleyball begins in Chester

The dust has settled on the 2014 Class C volleyball regular season. But, over the next two weeks on the Hi-Line, a storm of excitement will take place.

The action starts with this week's District 6C East tournament, which runs Thursday-Friday in Chester. Six teams from the 6C East will battle it out for three spots in next weekend's Northern C Divisional, and with that, two spots in the Class C state tournament, which will be held Nov. 13-15 in Bozeman.

Chinook comes into this weekend's tournament as the No. 1 seed and the defending 6C East champion. The Sugarbeeters (13-0) are also unbeaten in 2014, and won the district regular season championship with a 10-0 record. Chinook has talent and experience at every position, with Hannah Weber, Katelyn Neibauer, Cortney Gunderson and Brooke Nicholson all leading the way, while Mariah Swank and Lauren Harshman give the Beeters even more firepower.

Chinook has a bye in the opening round of the tournament, and will play in the winner's bracket quarterfinal later Thursday.

The North Star Knights have the other bye. The Knights are the No. 2 seed, and they finished second to the Beeters in the regular season with an 8-2 record. North Star's (10-2) only losses this season have come at the hands of Chinook. North Star's only loss in the 2013 district tournament also came at the hands of Chinook, and the Knights and Beeters are expected to once again go toe-to-toe this weekend in Chester. Like Chinook, the Knights are balanced with the likes of Samantha Pester, Mackenzie Hansen, Sheridan O'Neil and Kiera Miller giving them a presence at the net. Tylynn Rettig and Graysen Spicher are also outstanding all-around players, while Sheridan Spicher has had a strong season.

The Knights will play the second winner's bracket quarterfinal Thursday, against either Chester/J-I or Hays-Lodge Pole. With a big win over Big Sandy last weekend, the host Hawks earned the No. 3 seed. C/J-I, led by sophomore Allix Goldhahn, as well as Erin Wolfe and Madeline Woods, went 6-4 in district play this season, and the Hawks (6-8) will be a heavy favorite in their opener against HLP. The Thunderbirds (1-12) went 0-10 in league play, and are led by Shelby Doney and Corry Carrywater.

Chinook awaits the winner of the tournament's opening match between the No. 4 seeded Pioneers and the No. 5 seeded Box Elder Bears. Big Sandy (3-9) started strong this season, but the Pioneers are extremely young, with just one returning varsity player from a year ago. They finished the regular season 3-7 in conference play, and did beat the Bears both times they played. Still, this tournament will be a learning experience for Big Sandy, which is led by senior Abby Gregory, as well as young players like Jenna Leader and Maddy Reichelt among others.

On the other side of the coin, the Bears are back in the district tourney for the first time in three years. Box Elder has had a good return to varsity volleyball, going 3-7 in conference play, but playing all the other teams in the 6C East very tough. Tyra Gopher and Tia Russell have been solid for the young Bears (3-8) all season long.

The 6C East tournament is always tough, but for young teams likes Box Elder, Bog Sandy and C/J-I, it's especially tough because, with only three spots on the line at next week's Northern C, and with two of the top teams in the state in the field in Chinook and North Star, it will be tough to advance.

However, the 6C East tourney has always been full of surprises, and this year might be no different. The Beeters and Knights are heavy favorites to meet in the championship match Friday night, but there's plenty of volleyball to play before that happens.

The tournament's first session will get underway at 10 a.m. Thursday with Box Elder meeting Big Sandy. C/J-I and HLP will follow that match, then Chinook will take on the Box Elder/Big Sandy winner. The final match of the first sessions will feature North Star against the C/J-I/HLP winner.

The second session will begin Thursday at 5 p.m. There are two loser-out matches in that session. The tournament resumes Friday at 10 a.m. with the winner's bracket semifinal, followed by a loser-out match at 12 p.m. The third-place match will take place Friday at 4 p.m. and the championship match is slated for 6 p.m. If a second championship match is needed, it will take place 30 minutes after the first title match.

All of the 6C East action will take place in Chester Thursday-Friday. The top three teams from the tournament move on to Chinook to battle it out with teams from the 6C West and the 7C in next weekend's Northern C Divisional.