State AA volleyball: 'Relentless' Billings Senior joins Bozeman Gallatin in undefeated semifinals

But that hasn’t stopped them from winning, which they did twice on Thursday on the opening day of the Class AA state volleyball tournament at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.

Senior opened the tournament with a sweep over Missoula Hellgate and they followed that up with another sweep, this time of crosstown rival Billings West by the scores of 25-21, 25-23, and 25-15 to advance to the undefeated semifinal and clinch a top-three finish.

“I’m just so proud of this team,” Senior head coach Courtney Bad Bear said. “We have faced so much adversity this season, especially late in the season. They are just relentless, this group. They just come out and compete. They compete for one another and I couldn’t be prouder of them. Their ability to respond is unmatched.”

Against West, the defending state champions, there wasn’t much adversity outside of a competitive first two sets but the Broncs pulled away in the third to complete the sweep.

Eva Blatchford and freshman Emma Ormsby sparked Senior with 11 kills each. Orsmby also added six blocks, which included the match winner. Addison Falls Down pitched in with 32 assists and two aces.

On the West side of things, Brooklyn Pierce battled her way to 13 kills and eight digs. Kaylee Thompson finished with 15 assists and Reese Enderson tacked on four blocks.

The Bears will play on Friday at 2 p.m. in loser-out action. Senior, on the other hand, will square off against Gallatin in the undefeated semifinal at 6 p.m.

“I’m really excited to play Gallatin,” Bad Bear said. “They compete hard and they are really well coached. My favorite matches are the ones that are at a very high level and (Friday night) will be a very high-level match.”

Gallatin 3, Bozeman 0 (quarterfinal) 

For the second year in a row, the Gallatin Raptors will bring home a trophy from the Class AA state volleyball tournament.

Gallatin got third last season. This time around, the Raptors have bigger aspirations. That being said, knocking off crosstown rival Bozeman, the team that defeated Gallatin in the loser-takes-third match last season, made the 3-0 victory on Thursday (25-23, 25-22, and 25-23) taste that much sweeter.

“We came out with confidence. We came out with energy and we got the job done,” Gallatin senior Cadence Lundgren said. “We wanted to come at them (Bozeman). We wanted revenge and we wanted to beat them in three and that’s exactly what we did. I could not be happier.”

After winning the first two sets, Gallatin found itself trailing in the third. At one point, Gallatin was down five and later on, the Raptors found themselves down 20-17.

“We have been in a lot of close matches this year,” Gallatin head coach Erika Gustavsen said. “We are 26-1 and have battled through that but a lot of those have been close. We have been down by more than five and come back. So when we are in those situations, I have a lot of confidence because we have been in those situations a lot and been able to be successful.”

“They know in volleyball, it’s such a momentum sport, we just have to stop a run and it has to be one point at a time and they have really bought into that. They really believe that.”

That belief was on full display down the stretch. Bozeman led 23-20 in the third set, but the Raptors scored the matches final five points. Lundgren scored a key point to help Gallatin pull even at 23-23. Soon after, Makalya Coleman put home the clinching point.

“Anyone that watches us knows that we have two really, really good middles,” Gustavsen said. “And (Makayla) does a really good job of stepping in and she’s a different blocker and she’s really, really good.”

Lundgren did her part in the win with 11 kills, five blocks and two aces. Emma Hardman also had a big night with eight kills, 12 digs and two aces. Jorie Houk pitched in with 21 assists. Nula Anderson managed 10 kills for Bozeman. Morgan Jones added nine and eight digs. Lauren Fox was credited with 22 assists and two blocks, while Sofia Kimmel had 16 digs.

Gallatin will advance to the undefeated semifinal on Friday at 6 against Billings West or Senior. They can finish no worse than third.

First-round

Billings Senior 3, Missoula Hellgate 0 

No Leela Ormsby, no problem for the Billings Senior Broncs.

Despite missing one of the best players in the state, Ormsby, a Michigan State commit, the Billings Senior Broncs cruised to a 3-0 sweep over Missoula Hellgate (25-18, 25-12, 25-16) in the first round of the Class AA state volleyball tournament. 

“This team is no stranger to adversity,” Senior head coach Courtney Bad Bear said. “This is the second season that we have had to finish without Leela on the court. However, this team is so invested in this culture and in our goals, they haven’t changed. We really had to focus on just because it was a season-ending injury for one of our kids and an important kid at that, didn’t mean it was a season-ending injury for our team.”

Bad Bear said the Broncs just needed to find some confidence. They have beaten Gallatin since Ormsby’s injury and advanced to the Class AA quarterfinals with their sweep. Eva Blatchford’s 15 kills and four blocks certainly helped with that. Addison Falls Down also added 32 assists, while Emma Ormsby, the younger sister of Leela, finished with six kills and four blocks as Senior won all three sets by at least eight points. 

Cody Schneider led the way for Hellgate with nine kills. Moana Massey contributed with 17 assists and five digs.

Senior will play West at 8 p.m. for a birth in the undefeated semifinal. Hellgate will square off against Helena High in a loser-out match Friday at 12 p.m. 

Billings West 3, Helena 2 

After seeing her team fall behind 2-0 in her first-ever state tournament match as a head coach, Bailie Carlson of Billings West said she experienced "emotional whiplash" as the Golden Bears, the defending state champs, rallied for 3-2 win over Helena High.

Helena High jumped out to a 2-0 lead after taking the first two sets (25-16, 30-28) in the first round of the Class AA state tournament. West responded by winning the third and fourth sets 25-22 and 25-12 to force a fifth. 

Yet, the Bears once again fell behind, 9-4. They even trailed Helena 10-7 before finishing the match on an 8-2 run to complete the reserve sweep.

"That was the so stressful," Carlson said. "The first two sets I was a little unhinged. I did a little yelling and was on the verge of tears a couple of times — volleyball is such an emotional sport for me so it's hard to watch them play so great and then so not great. I call it emotional whiplash."

In the end, the emotions ended on the right side of spectrum after Brooklyn Pierce hammered home her 21st kill on match point. The junior was also credited with four blocks and three aces. Quinn Freitag tacked on 11 kills, while Kaylee Thompson had 30 assists. 

Helena High, the top seed from the Western AA, got 26 kills in a valiant effort from Birdie Heuiser. Ella McCarthy was a force around the net with 5.5 blocks; Morgan Koch added three blocks. Kiran Dusko pitched in with 35 assists and two aces. 

Bozeman 3, Missoula Sentinel 0 

It always felt like the Bozeman Hawks were destined to play Gallatin in the quarterfinals of the Class AA state volleyball tournament.

The crosstown rivals wound up on the same side of the bracket and after Gallatin took care of business against Kalispell Glacier, Bozeman High also made quick work of Missoula Sentinel, sweeping the Spartans 25-19, 25-15 and 25-19 Thursday at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, to set up a crosstown showdown in for a berth in the undefeated semifinal.

Washington State commit Nula Anderson was a driving force behind the win for Bozeman with a match-high 12 kills to go along with six digs and a block. Lauren Fox had a productive match as well for Bozeman with 32 assists and five aces. Morgan Jones was also credited with eight kills and seven digs. 

"A lot of it is figuring out the court, the lighting in here is weird, we don't play on a sport court, stuff like that. So just taking everything in and figuring it out, that's pretty important," Bozeman head coach Devin Dynan said. "Everybody stayed calm and stayed control in the game. It was a little looser than I would like but they are really good volleyball players and I was glad they were able to come out here and have fun."

Next up, is Gallatin. The Raptors swept Bozeman during the regular season, but the Hawks also knocked Gallatin off in the loser-takes-third match last season to advance to the state title match. 

Bozeman eventually took second. Both teams have state title aspirations this time around and the winner of Thursday's match (6 p.m.) will move on to the undefeated semifinal.

"Composure (will be the key). We have to stay composed and play our game," Dynan said. "It's really easy when you have friends on the other side of the net — the crowd really gets into it — things like that. You can get away from your game a little bit. If we stay composed and play our kind of volleyball, we'll be OK."

Sentinel got six kills from Elise Hauck in the loss. Peyton Size finished with 21 assists, while Lane Rosenbach added 3.5 blocks. Sentinel will play Glacier on Friday at 10 a.m. in loser out action. 

Bozeman Gallatin 3, Kalispell Glacier 0 

The Bozeman Gallatin Raptors entered the 2024 Class AA state volleyball tournament as a favorite to win it all and in their first-round match on Thursday, they looked the part.

So did Kansas State commit Cadence Lundgren. The 6-foot-4 middle blocker opened the tournament with a block. She also had 10 kills, seven blocks total, and three aces as Gallatin cruised to a 3-0 win (25-20, 25-15 and 25-21).

"We have been really lucky that she's been really consistent this year," Gallatin head coach Erika Gustavsen said. "Both of our middles had big matches for us and I feel like we established our block a lot better in the second and third sets. But yea, (Cadence) is a great leader and she's been doing it for us all year. She steps up in big moments and I was confident she would continue that."

Lundren's fast started helped the Raptors build a quick lead in the first set. Gallatin controlled the second and pulled away with a win a third.

Emma Hardman pitched in with eight kills and two aces. Makayla Coleman also managed seven kills and five blocks in the win. Jorie Houk added 16 asssists, while Taylor Speake finished with eight digs.

"These are the best eight teams in the state and everyone wants to come out and win," Gustavsen said. "So just being as consistent as possible is the name of volleyball. I thought we did a pretty good job of that and it's also about getting some first-match jitters out. Getting a feel for the environment. All in all, I'm proud of our kids. Glacier is a good, solid team."

The Wolfpack will drop into the loser's bracket but are still alive in the true double-elimination tournament. Avaieh Thomas led the way for Glacier with 11 kills. Cassidy Daniels added four kills, two aces and two blocks in the loss. 

This story will be updated.