Hi-Line Volleyball Roundup

For some area high school volleyball teams, Saturday was a busy first day.

Several local teams got plenty of court time at the Malta Invitational, while the Chester/J-I Hawks suffered a tough defeat at the hands of a District 6C West rival.

In Malta, Chinook, Harlem and Rocky Boy got the season started against several tough Class B schools. The Malta tournament featured each team playing seven round-robin games to 25 in the morning, then a bracketed tournament in the afternoon.

Chinook was the highest seed of the three local schools in bracket play, and the Sugarbeeters faced an old 6C rival in the first round. Chinook and Rocky Boy split two games with the Morning Stars winning 25-22 and the Beeters taking game two 25-21. On point differential, Chinook advanced to the quarterfinals and Rocky Boy was eliminated.

Harlem was also eliminated in the first round. The Wildcats fell to Poplar by scores of 25-10 and 25-19.

The quarterfinals was the end of the line for the Beeters. Chinook dropped the first game to Malta 25-12 but came back to win game two 25-22, but the M-Ettes moved on on points.

Circle wound up defeating Wolf Point in two games to take the Malta championship.

Meanwhile, Chester/J-I opened its season against a pair of conference rivals. No score was reported from C/J-I's match at Valier on Friday, but the Hawks dropped a conference match to Sunburst Saturday in Chester.

The match between the two 6C rivals was wild from the start and the Refiners wound up prevailing in five games, by scores of 25-21, 25-20, 23-25, 23-25 and 15-12. The Hawks played valiantly, coming back from a 2-0 deficit to force a fifth game.

Larisa Lybeck had 14 kills and one block for the Hawks. Jocelyn Woods added 11 kills and 11 digs, and Nikole Wolfe had 32 assists.