Lady Scotties Bring Home 17th District 2B Title

In 28 years of playing in Class B, the Glasgow Scotties brought home their 17th District 2B Title in school history on Nov. 2, after playing three games during the two-day tournament on home court.

The Lady Scotties came into the tournament as a first seed, which meant they had to wait to find out the results of the Malta vs. Poplar came at 10 a.m. the first day of the tournament on Nov. 1. The M-ettes came away victorious and they hoped to keep that momentum against the Scotties. With the home crowd cheering and the Lady Scotties' momentum, it was no match for the M-ettes, as the Scotties took the win in three matches, 25-5, 25-10, 25-13. Taylor Pederson led the team in kills with 10, of the team's 33, and in blocks with two, of the team's six. Laura Ross led the team in digs with five, of the team's 23, and also contributed to the blocks recording two. Keely Fossum and Anika Peters led the team with four aces each, of the team's 13, and Rachelle Glaser led the team with 25 assists, of the team's 28. Malta only recorded five kills, one ace, 20 digs and four assists.

"I felt like my girls came ready and super excited to play. We served and passed really well and that's why the stat sheet looked the way that it did. Malta wasn't able to send the ball back over consistently. I know they have been dealing with lots of injuries with kids and that's really too bad when you aren't able to use your older experienced kids when that experience is so crucial in a tournament setting," explained coach Somer Hoerster.

As a result of winning against Malta, the next match was later on that evening against Harlem for the semi-finals. Again with the home crowd behind them, the Scotties came ready to win, and win they did, 25-16, 25-18, 25-17. Keely Fossum led the team with eight kills, of the team's 30, Laura Ross led the team with three blocks, of the team's six, as well as assists with two of the team's 18. Abriana Nielson also assisted with the team's assists, recording two. Tyanna Graham led the team in digs with 12, of the team's 62, and Rachelle Glaser led the team in assists, of the team's 18. Harlem recorded 26 kills, seven blocks, three aces, 55 digs and 22 assists.

"We stayed in the gym the whole day watching and sometimes that is tough to do and then be ready to play, but this group is always pumped to play and they love being on the floor competing. I was very happy with our efforts at the end of Friday," said Hoerster.

Due to winning against Harlem, the Lady Scotties received a break in play action on Saturday, not having to play until later on in the evening on Nov. 2. "Having that large gap is unusual but we took Saturday morning as an opportunity to have a nice team breakfast together and then all came up to watch the first match [Wolf Point vs. Harlem]. Being able to sleep in certainly didn't hurt either," explained Hoerster.

Harlem wanted a piece of the action during the Championship round, and after beating Wolf Point earlier in the day, it was another matchup for the Wildcats and the Scotties. Both teams battled it out on the court, however, the Scotties became victorious in four matches, 25-11, 25-16, 15-25, 16-25. Taylor Pederson led the team with eight kills, of the team's 33 and Laura Ross led the team with five blocks, of the team's six. Anika Peters led the team with four aces, of the team's 10 while Blaire Westby led the team with 15 digs, of the team's 84. Rachelle Glaser also led the team with 25 assists, of the team's 26. The Wildcats recorded 30 kills, 10 blocks, six aces, 82 digs and 27 assists.

"Sometimes in volleyball no matter what you try to do, for a string of points, things just don't go your way. It's pretty easy to see from the sideline and when you coach for a long time, you can feel the shift. At a certain point when you are down in a game, you just want your team to just go out and fight hard on every point and try to end that game on a positive note," Hoerster told the Courier. "I was extremely happy with how we started game four and we came out with a large lead and never let go. That is an awesome thing that this group can do. They never lose faith in their abilities and get right back up and ready to fight."

Up next for the Scotties is Divisionals in Wolf Point Nov. 7 through the 9 where they will face some of the same teams they did this past weekend and new teams as well such as Great Falls Central, Shelby, Choteau and Fairfield. However, Hoerster says the team is ready. "This week is back to the drawing board. We absolutely have to work harder now than we have all season and winning districts is great of course but that is now over. Now we have to put all the pieces together at the right time and hope it all comes together," she explained.

The Lady Scotties have certainly crossed one goal they have been working towards all season, achieving District Champions. There are many goals left to accomplish yet this season including becoming Divisional Champs and then State Champs.