North Country Season Ends

The North Country Mavericks’ volleyball season came to an end in Sidney this past weekend on the court but Coach Charlene Wasson found her team’s essence in the locker room post-elimination. “It was the maturity and growth I saw the most from this group of girls this season that I take away and am super proud of them for,” she said.

North Country came out strong in round one of the tournament Thursday afternoon as they faced the Broadus Hawks. Broadus entered the tourney as the number two seed from their district, while North Country was the third seed out of District 1-C. The Mavericks took the match in four sets 25-17, 25-17, 14-25, 25-22.

The Mavericks had 33 kilss, 28 assists, 51 digs, 11 blocks and eight aces.

Aces: Shelbi LaBrie 4, Jaycee Erickson 3, Kora LaBrie 1

Kills: Teagan Erickson and Paige Wasson each with 10, Mattea McColly 5, Jaycee Erickson 4, Zandora Longtree 3 and Kendall Scheffelmear 1

Assists: Jaycee Erickson 15, Zandora Longtree and Paige Wasson each with 6, Kendall Scheffelmear 1

Digs: Kora LaBrie and Zandora Longtree each with 13, Paige Wasson 7, Teagan Erickson 6, Jaycee Erickson 5, Mattea McColly and Shelbi LaBrie each with 3, Kendall Scheffelmear 1

Blocks: Teagan Erickson 5, Paige Wasson 4, Kendall Scheffelmear 2

The win advanced North Country to match 5, where they faced the defending state champions and District 1-C champs. “Then we took on Plentywood and overall this match was played much better than our district matchup against them,” Wasson said. “We were able to hold ourselves together and finish plays with great hits and digs. We just couldn’t take a set from them in that match.”

Plentywood won the hard fought battle 27-25, 29-27, 25-12. North Country had 35 kills, 33 assists, 32 digs, five blocks, and three aces.

Aces: Kora LaBrie, Zandora Longtree and Berkley Hillman each with 1

Kills: Paige Wasson 10, Teagan Erickson and Kendall Scheffelmear each with 9, Jaycee Erickson 4 and Mattea McColly 3

Assists: Jaycee Erickson 20, Zandora Longtree 7, Paige Wasson 4 and Kora LaBrie and Kendall Scheffelmear each with 1

Digs: Zandora Longtree 11, Kora LaBrie 7, Teagan Erickson 5, Jaycee Erickson 3, Mattea McColly and Paige Wasson each with 2, Shelbi LaBrie and Kendall Scheffelmear each with 1

Blocks: Teagan Erickson 4, Paige Wasson 1

In the consolation round, the Mavericks hit the court against the Circle Wildcats. Circle entered the divisional tournament as the third seed, facing their first losses of the season in their district tournament. Circle won the battle of the third seeds 25-27, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15, 15-11.

“We won the first two sets and really weren’t rolling fluidly. Set three, Circle made a rotation adjustment which seemed to really get their hitters rolling and we never could recover from this,” Wasson said. “We also missed eight serves in set three which we lost 21 to 25. We just needed to get the job done in that third set and didn’t.”

Aces: Teagan Erickson 3, Kora LaBrie and Jaycee Erickson each with 2, Zandora Longtree 1

Kills: Paige Wasson 21, Teagan Erickson 12, Jaycee Erickson 9, Mattea McColly 7 and Kendall Scheffelmear 2

Assists: Jaycee Erickson 21, Zandora Longtree 14 and Paige Wasson 3

Digs: Zandora Longtree 14, Paige Wasson 12, Kora LaBrie and Jaycee Erickson each with 8, Teagan Erickson and Shelbi LaBrie each with 4, Kendall Scheffelmear 2

Blocks: Teagan Erickson 6, Kendall Scheffelmear 3

“I will miss our three seniors next season. I would like to thank them for all they have given to me and their team over the course of this season and past seasons,” Wasson highlighted. “Our locker room talk on Friday after losing out was sad but had many positive notes too. Between crying and wiping our tears, we had some kids give some really nice talks that led to other kids stepping up to be heard. I found it very uplifting in a time when you really do feel like you just beat yourself out of the tournament.”