A good season, but tough finish for Eureka spikers
BOZEMAN - One thing is for sure. No team has fought harder for its season than the Eureka Lions' volleyball team fought on Friday.
Down 2-0 to Fergus County High School in the Class A state volleyball tournament - and admittedly not playing their best volleyball, the Lions still pulled together and fought tooth and nail.
They let the Eagles - and the rest of Class A - know they weren't going to go quietly.
But the Lions just couldn't get the right kill, the right serve, block or the big dig at the critical time.
And in the end, when the last Lion kill attempt landed just long, it was Fergus who advanced and the Lions who headed home, out of their first state tournament as a Class A squad after two matches.
Final scores were 25-16, 25-18, 29-27.
"We just didn't play real well," said Eureka coach Rhonda Hammond.
"I don't know if they got a little psyched out …
These teams are too good and they're big.
"It wasn't one thing. We just didn't seem to get it going," she said.
"But they never quit," Hammond said.
The last game was truly a nail-biter as Eureka trailed 12-7 in the early going, then scratched its way into a 14-13 lead on the strength of strong serving by setter Megan Hannay and the blocking of middle KaeDee Shay.
An Amy Roberts kill paired with a couple of Eagle hitting errors put Eureka up 21-16.
It appeared Game 4 would follow.
But four straight mistakes from the Lions put Fergus right back in the game at 21-all. The next few points were back-and-forth and Eureka fought off two match points and even had a game point of its own before Roberts' final swing landed just a few inches out of bounds.
"I'm just so proud of them," Hammond added.
Roberts finished her final high school match with 20 kills and 11 digs and Shay and Briann Linnell had three blocks each.
The 2006 season was a difficult one as the Lions tried to adjust to their first year in Class A.
"It's been so hard," Hammond said.
The Lions felt each time they stepped on the court, it was against someone bigger and stronger, she said.
"(Other teams) think they are going to annihilate. The other team is pretty up. They think they should pound us," she said.
"It hasn't been easy.
"They are the classiest act. They get along, the parents are great. They are going to make it in life."
The future does look bright for Eureka, though. The Lions graduate just two - Roberts and libero April Paden.
"I hope (the Lions) learned from Amy," Hammond said.
"She worked her tail off."
The time Roberts has spent in the gym "has set the precedent for the future," the coach said.
Lewistown def. Eureka 25-16, 25-18, 29-27
Kills - Fergus 30 (LeAnn Quinlan 10) Eureka 32 (Amy Roberts 20, Melanie Finch 4, KaeDee Shay 4, Briann Linnell 4); Assists - Fergus 29 (Ashley Boettger 28), Eureka 29 (Megan Hannay 29); Blocks - Fergus 8 (Arielle Allen 4, Lyndsi Bayless 3), Eureka 6 (KaeDee Shay 3, Briann Linnell 3); Digs - Fergus 51 (LeAnn Quinlan 16, Katie d'Autremont 9), Eureka 19 (Roberts 11, April Paden 8); Aces - Fergus 7 (Josie Sweeney 3, Allen 2), Eureka 3 (Hannay 2).