State AA volleyball: Bozeman eliminates Helena High in epic match; Billings West stays alive

Facing elimination at the hands of Helena High Friday night in the Class AA state volleyball tournament at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, Bozeman turned to its two stars — Jones and Nula Anderson.

Throughout the fifth set, Anderson and Jones delivered. But still, thanks to some clutch hitting on the other side of the net from Birdie Heuiser, Helena went blow-for-blow and even grabbed a 10-7 lead.

Eventually, it was 13-13 and 14-14 before the Hawks turned to Jones two more times and the senior, playing in her final state tournament, soared above the net to deliver match point in a 3-2 win for the Hawks (25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 18-25, 16-14). 

“I do have a 35-inch vertical,” Jones said. “I don’t play to my full speed all the time. I probably should. Definitely when we are up against the wall, everything just goes. I choked up when it got 14-14. I kind of freaked out. I felt my stomach drop but I knew in the end we would pull it out. I still had that gut feeling.”

“You can’t count any team out at the Brick.”

There were times during the loser-out match, you could have counted out both teams. Helena High, which staved off elimination in the morning with a 5-set win over Missoula Hellgate, fell behind 1-0. The Bengals were down early in set two, before rallying for the win.

Bozeman took the third set. Helena jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth and eventually forced the fifth. The Hawks grabbed control again, going ahead 7-4, before the Bengals ripped off six in a row to take a 10-7 lead.

Yet, the Bengals, who went to five sets in all three of their matches, just didn’t have enough to hold off Jones and Anderson.

“There’s nothing to walk away disappointed about,” Helena High head coach Lindsey Day said. “We played our best volleyball these last two days in Bozeman and I think that’s the end goal. You want to walk away playing the best you have all year and this has just been an incredible group. To watch their gains and watch them continue to get better and come to state and put ourselves in the position we did against some great teams, it was great. I’m super proud of them.”

Jones finished the match with 17 kills. She also had 13 digs and a block. Anderson, the Washington State commit, was all over the stat sheet too with 14 kills, 10 digs, four blocks, two aces and two assists.

Heuiser had 22 kills, four blocks and nine digs in valiant effort for the Bengals. Ella McCarthy added seven kills and 3.5 blocks, while Kiran Dusko had 30 assists, 13 digs and 2.5 blocks.

Bozeman will play Billings West at 8 p.m. in the undefeated semifinal.

Billings West 3, Glacier 0 

A week ago, the Billings West Golden Bears weren’t even a sure thing to make the Class AA state volleyball tournament. Now, they are one win from reaching Saturday and clinching another state tournament trophy.

The Bears had their five-match state tournament win streak snapped on Thursday night by Billings Senior. Yet, West responded on Friday inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse with a 3-0 sweep over Kalispell Glacier (25-15, 25-23, 25-11).

That was the 17th consecutive win for Eastern AA teams over Western AA teams. The league has a perfect 5-0 mark against the Western AA in this tournament and two of those wins were by West, which got 10 kills and three aces from Brooklyn Pierce in the win. Kaylee Thompson was credited with 12 assists, two ace and three blocks.

Avaieh Thomas had seven kills to pace Glacier. Kenedee Moore contributed with 14 digs, while Stellar Bayard added 13 assists.

West will play at 8 p.m. against the winner of Bozeman and Helena High for a spot in the loser-take-third game on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Helena 3, Missoula Hellgate 2

For the second day in a row, the Helena High Bengals were forced to go to a fifth set. This time though, the outcome would be much different.

After Helena squandered a 2-0 lead on Thursday, the Bengals were forced to a fifth set again after they were unable to close out Missoula Hellgate in four. Except this time, Helena avoided another heartbreaking defeat, rallying to win the fifth set and the match 3-2 (25-19, 23-25, 25-19, 22-25 and 15-8).

The win keeps the Bengals alive in the double-elimination bracket and one reason they have life is the play of Birdie Heuiser who was credited with 21 kills and 12 digs. Ella McCarthy added 13 kills for Helena High, as well as 4.5 blocks. Lauryn Lieberg had a strong showing on defense with 17 digs. Kiran Dusko also had 39 assists.

For Hellgate, Elli Stockman led the way with 10 kills. She was followed by Sophia Petrino who had nine of those and five blocks. Moana Massey also put forth a strong effort with 29 assists and 12 digs.

Kalispell Glacier 3, Missoula Sentinel 0 

The Kalispell Glacier Wolfpack fell short of sweep against Missoula Sentinel on Friday in loser-out action at the Class AA state tournament, but the Wolfpack did keep their season alive with a 3-1 victory (25-19, 25-12, 18-25 and 25-19).

Cassidy Daniels paced the Wolfpack with eight kills. She also added four digs. Mali Carroll was also productive for Glacier with seven kills and three blocks. Madi Stevens notched three aces and Stella Bayard managed eight assists. 

Andrin Reimers was the top scorer for Sentinel with seven kills and she was joined on that number by Elise Hauck. Peyton Size added 22 assists while Lance Rosenbach had 4.5 blocks. Kaydance Deering also finished with 20 digs. 

Glacier will play again a 2 p.m. against Billings West in another loser-out game. Sentinel's season is over. 

This story will be updated.

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