Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Michelle Frank / the courier Kennedy Schmidt goes for a kill during the Scotties' game vs. Scobey on Sept. 14. At the ready are Baylie Chappell (left) and Ziggy Chamberlain (right). The Scotties fell to the Spartans in five scrappy games.
GHS played a ton of volleyball this past week, all of it against outstanding teams in all classes.
On Sept. 19, they traveled to Sidney for a match with the Eagles, a team they have traditionally struggled to beat. Showing true grit, the Scotties emerged victorious, thanks in large part to a remarkable display of serving by senior Ashtyn Myrick in game three. The fury of that attack fueled more aggressive serving, particularly from Kennedy Schmidt and Rachelle Glaser. Those three girls accounted for 11 of the team's 17 aces. Glaser contributed 20 assists and Jesi Kennedy turned in a strong performance with 10 kills. But the crux of the match hinged on defense and the Scotties were strong as usual with ten digs each from Schmidt and Cordelia Nickels.
On Sept. 21, Scobey joined us for action in the GHS gymnasium. The C and JV squads handled them well, winning in three games each. The varsity team looked to be on the same path, until they lost momentum during game three and Scobey's aggressive offense took control. In spite of 12 kills by Baylie Chappell, 11 by Jesi Kennedy and nine by Hannah Mickelson, the GHS offense just wasn't enough to combat a very strong Scobey team. The Scotties played nice defense (Schmidt, nine digs; Madison Knodel, seven digs) but the team's erratic serve receive, usually their bread and butter, took them out of system too often to beat the Spartans. An injury to Ziggy Chamberlain further hampered the team's attempts to win and Scobey took the match: 25-16, 25-18, 23-25, 23-25, 10-15.
Immediately the following morning, the Scotties departed for the highly competitive Dickinson tournament. In pool play, the first opponent was Billings West where Glasgow was, as expected, outsized and out-gunned. Still they fought for points and never gave up just because they were the underdogs. Unfortunately, GHS suffered another injury, this time to Mickelson, who was out for the rest of the tournament. A quick substitution could have wreaked havoc, but the team rallied strong and worked together beautifully even though they fell 10-25, 9-25, 13-25.
It was a similar story as the girls faced off against Bismarck St Mary's, another AA caliber team, except that the scores reflected more of the hustle and determination of the team. The girls fearlessly swung through blocks much bigger than they were and dug balls hit at them much harder than they were accustomed to. It was a loss, but a nice match nonetheless: 19-25, 17-25, 12-25.
Killdeer was the final opponent on Sept. 22 and the Scotties won all three games, 25-12, 25-21, 25-17, due to solid skill execution and pure energy. Again, 10 team aces played a big role, but this time the Scotties also added six blocks, a key first-step defensive move.
As it shook out, two of the teams in their original pool qualified for the gold division on Saturday and Glasgow earned a berth in the silver division, so the coaches were very proud of their solid performance on Friday.
Incredible teamwork and determination kept shining through on Sept. 23, as the Scotties were challenged by more fantastic teams (Baker, Dawson County and Sidney) and they simply refused to give up. It's accurate but unfair to consider only their 0-3 record when reflecting on the day. This very undersized but big-hearted team fought hard all day and had many moral victories that should help propel them through the second half of their conference schedule, which begins on Saturday, Sept. 30, in Wolf Point.
Reader Comments(0)