Valkyries fight for fifth in Anaconda tournament

The Valkyries volleyball team showed that they can still hang with the big schools last weekend, placing fifth among 12 schools, all the rest of which were Class A, at the Northwest Versus Southwest Tip-Off Tournament in Anaconda last weekend.

Bigfork ranked third in the Northwest Division after pool play behind Polson and Libby, respectively. They had to face the Southwest No. 3 team, Frenchtown, in the third match to battle for fifth place, which they won 25-19, 25-22.

"We had great consistent play from all the starters," Bigfork High School Head Volleyball Coach Tammi McDaniel said. "Nikie Bilodeau is starting to settle into her roll in the middle. Mallery Knoll had nice aggressive play, both offensively and defensively. Emily Hardman continued to be a swinging machine. She never wore down giving every set that came her way 110 percent. Taylor Peck and Claire Wilken worked so hard to get to every ball overhead and push it where it needed to go."

Hardman had 12 kills and five digs, Wilken had five assists, Deaton had five digs, Knoll had eight kills and eight digs, Peck had six assists and Bilodeau had five of the team's six blocks.

The tournament started with a pool play format that put Bigfork up against Anaconda for their first match, which the Vals lost 25-15 and 25-19.

"Anaconda came out strong and we were not able to settle down and get into our offense," McDaniel said. "There was some pretty long volleys, so Anaconda had to work for a lot of their points."

Hardman had six digs and five kills, Deaton had seven digs and Knoll had six.

Bigfork had much more success in the second round with their meeting with Corvallis, taking a 25-24 and 25-10 victory.

"Bigfork came out more composed and was able to adapt to the confined playing area a little better," McDaniel said. "A lot of players contributed to the win as kill and dig stats were spread around."

Big numbers were still brought in by Hardman, who had 12 kills and six digs, and Knoll, who had 12 digs and seven kills. Wilken contributed 10 assists, Deaton added six digs, VanDerveer had six kills and Peck had seven assists.

Next up for the Vals was Dillon, whom they beat 25-22 and 25-24.

"The game was a hard-fought victory for the girls," McDaniel said. "It showed that they are able to keep their composure while under pressure. They focused on one point at a time and came out on top."

Hardman had 15 kills and Wilken had just as many assists. Deaton had 11 digs, VanDerveer had eight kills , Knoll had seven digs and Peck had seven assists.

The Vals took on Frenchtown for the first time during pool play and came away with a 25-14, 25-17 win.

"Frenchtown is a tough competitive team when they get into their offense," McDaniel said. "We were able to keep them from doing that."

In the last match of the first day of the tournament, Bigfork was pitted against Hamilton. They barely won the first match 25-24, and then lost the second 25-21.

"We should have won both by wider margins, but mental mistakes kept us from keeping the momentum," McDaniel said. "We had more service errors in that game than any other game thus far. They kept fighting for it on defense, but it wasn't enough in the second set."

Hardman had 16 kills, Wilken had eight assists and Knoll had 10 digs.

On Saturday morning, the Vals played their last game of pool play against Stevensville and won 25-22 and 15-14.

"Bigfork started the day fired up and played solidly all around," McDaniel said. "Emily Hardman picked up where she left off the day before and had a monster game. The leadership shown by Claire Wilken is invaluable along with good heads-up play by Taylor Peck."

Hardman had 13 kills and five aces, Wilken had 11 assists and VanDerveer had six aces.

Last Tuesday, the Vals hosted Tory and beat them handily in three matches, 25-8, 25-7, 25-9.

"The girls came out aggressive and never let up," she said. "Good, solid defense was played all around."

Bigfork had 26 kills, 13 from Hardman. VanDerveer had three of the team's five blocks and seven of its 17 aces. Deaton was responsible for half of Bigfork's 18 digs and Wilken helped out with 13 of the team's 21 assists.