Choteau A Learning Experience For GHS Volleyball

Glasgow's new-look 2014 Scottie spikers head to this weekend's Choteau Invitational with valuable experience gained at their season debut in the Choteau tourney.

Coach Lori Dailey welcomes it. Her volleyball team is growing.

“If you're a stat person, the numbers from Choteau don't tell a very favorable story,” Dailey told The Courier. “If, however, you look at the human side of things, you'll see that a very young and inexperienced Scottie volleyball team took to the court at an extremely competitive Choteau tournament and learned some critical lessons about sticking together and playing as a team, no matter how the chips fell.”

Other teams won most the chips, but the Scotties did enjoy some winning hands. Dailey called it a “long weekend” with “lots of valuable time for the girls.”

GHS defeated the Choteau Bulldogs 21-14, 21-5 on Friday morning, but from there it was mixed results over the two days. The Scotties lost to Forsyth, beat Conrad, lost to Three Forks, lost to Cut Bank, lost to Conrad, lost to Wolf Point, split with Townsend, lost to Simms, lost to Choteau, split with Wolf Point, and closed with a loss to Shelby.

“Naturally, we would like to have been more successful,” Dailey said, “but consider this: Many of the teams we were challenged by were state contenders last year, and we scored respectably against them some of the time. We were outsized and a little raw with only two healthy returners from last year's senior-heavy team, and yet we created a lot of good situations. Our defense was dogged and our offense was fairly aggressive, just not always during the same volley, so points were sometimes scarce.”

After the Choteau Invitational, the Scotties take to the freshly refinished GHS gym floor for three straight home matches: Sept. 11 vs. Glendive, Sept. 13 vs. Wolf Point and Sept. 18 vs. Malta.

“Now we all have a better indication of where we stand and what other teams offer, and it is very exciting,” Daily said. “Our goal is to play hard all year and improve our personal skills each time we step on the court. And if we lose more than we win, we will learn from the experience and be stronger for it.”