Bravettes stop Bruins in 3 games

Flathead 6-1 in Western AA play

Kelsey Kottraba may have said it best.

According to Flathead head volleyball coach Christy Harkins, the senior defensive specialist had a quick answer when Harkins asked the Bravettes how they felt after Saturday's volleyball match.

"I'm not happy," Kottraba fired back.

Odd, considering Flathead (8-3, 6-1) had just downed Helena Capital 25-14, 25-21, 25-21 - and dropped the Bruins (5-6, 2-2) out of a three-way tie for first place in the Western AA. Flathead and Butte remain together atop the conference.

But Harkins understood completely.

"I thought that was a great comment," the coach said.

"We haven't really come out strong at home yet. But then, we haven't been at home that much," she said.

"We were slow with our feet and slow with our voices today. We were slow and hesitant."

That made it hard for Flathead to get into a volleyball rhythm, she said.

"Kelsey kind of led that discussion," she said.

But, Harkins pointed out, the Bravettes still did well enough to win.

"We pulled it together enough to compete," she said.

Junior setter Lindsay Ingram agreed.

"It was nice to be able to pull through," shesaid. "It was a good game for not playing all the way up to our potential.

"The key was just talking to each other, good passing and definitely serving in long strings," she said.

"They slowed it down," Ingram said of the Bruins.

"They didn't give free balls. It was all off-speed. They didn't hit a lot of stuff hard. They tipped to weird places," she said.

That allowed the Bruins to stay with Flathead in every game.

In fact, the first game was tied at 13 until junior outside hitter Kendalyn Habel jump-served eight straight points - including five aces - to give the Bravettes a 21-13 lead.

Habel led the Bravettes with 13 kills and six aces.

Serving was a friend to Flathead on this day.

Habel and Chelsea Vaudt each had strings of three or more serves three times and setter Chaeney Latimer had two such runs.

Neither team gained much of an advantage in the second game. Capital's biggest lead was 4-2. Flathead built a 21-16 advantage on Vaudt's serve, then nearly handed that back before finally winning when Capital's Jackie Polette served into the net on game point for the Bravettes.

Vaudt stepped up again for Flathead in the third game. She had four kills, an ace and three of her match-high five blocks.

Helena Capital was led by Sarah Hicks with eight kills, Megan Podolinsky and Jenna Frankino with 11 digs each and Polette with 26 assists and two service aces.

Kills - Helena Capital 26 (Sarah Hicks 8), Flathead 32 (Kendalyn Habel 13); Assists - Helena Capital 26 (Jackie Polette 26), Flathead 23 (Lindsay Ingram 13); Digs - Helena Capital 50 (Megan Podolinsky 11, Jenna Frankino 11), Flathead 11 (Ashley Robinson 6); Blocks - Helena Capital 4 (Shae Zanto 4), Flathead 9 (Chelsea Vaudt 5); Aces - Helena Capital 3 (Polette 2), Flathead 16 (Habel 6, C. Vaudt 6).