Sentinel smothers Glacier
Defending champion Missoula Sentinel powered past Glacier in four sets 25-10, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18, to down the Wolfpack on senior night Tuesday in a Western AA conference match.
Glacier was able to use its block to get the Spartans off their game after the first set, but fell too far behind in the last two sets to rally for a win.
“We were inconsistent,” Glacier coach Christy Harkins said. “That’s kind of plagued us the last couple of weeks. We had some great moments and some not so great moments. We’re still battling inconsistency.”
Sentinel dominated the first set, winning five of six points to pull ahead 13-6, then closed strong, taking the final seven points and 10 of the last 12 to win 25-10, closing the set with an ace.
The Spartans pulled ahead 9-3 in the second set and looked to be on the way to a quick night, when Glacier started to rally.
Earning the serve on a block by Kali Gulick, Glacier won five straight points on the serve of Aubrie Rademacher and took the lead shortly after at 11-10. Sentinel rallied and pulled ahead 17-13, but Glacier was able to hang around again, with Gulick notching a kill to get Rademacher the serve again facing a 20-17 deficit.
“She did a great job,” Harkins said of Rademacher’s night. “We’re letting athletes be athletes. She’s a great athlete. She’s quick, she’s got a great serve and we’re letting her play on the floor a little bit more. She had a great match tonight.
“She’s got a top-spin serve. That top-spin serves brings it back up to the net a bit faster so Kali can get a few blocks. That helps a little bit. A little different, most of the other girls serve a floater.”
The Wolfpack won the next four points to take the lead at 21-20, then took advantage of a pair of Sentinel errors and rallied off the final three points to win the second set 25-21.
“We’re a middle dominated team,” Harkins said. “We have two good middle hitters and we have to be able to pass the ball so we can run the middle. We’ve tried to work on that the last couple of games.”
A four-point rally for Sentinel in the middle of the third set allowed the Spartans to pull ahead 21-16, this time closing out Glacier 25-18. The fourth set went much the same way, with Sentinel scoring eight of 11 points to take an 18-11 lead and close the match with a 25-18 win.
Gulick had nine kills and 10 blocks for Glacier and Rademacher finished with three kills. Anna Schrade had a team-high seven digs and Ashley Montini had 26 assists.
Kylie Frolich led Sentinel (20-1 overall, 11-0 Western AA) with 14 kills and three blocks and Mariel Warren had a match-high 14 digs.
Glacier (13-9, 6-5) will play at Flathead on Thursday in its final match of the regular season before hosting a playoff game next week.
Sentinel def. Glacier 25-10, 21-25, 25-18, 25-18
Kills — Sentinel 54 (Kylie Frolich 14), Glacier 27 (Kali Gulick 9). Assists — Sentinel 51 (Jordyn Schweyen 42), Glacier 26 (Ashley Montini 26). Blocks — Sentinel 4 (Kylie Frolich 3), Glacier 13 (Kali Gulick 10). Digs — Sentinel 59 (Mariel Warren 14), Glacier 21 (Anna Schrade 7). Aces — Sentinel 9 (Elsa Godwin 4), Glacier 4 (Aubrie Rademacher 3).