Hi-Line Volleyball: Sugarbeeters, Knights off to a strong start

While preseason tournaments are certainly still going on early in the Hi-Line high school volleyball season, conference matches in the 6C East began last week, too.

Last Thursday night saw the North Star Knights take care of the Chester-Joplin-Inverness Hawks in a 6C matchup, by scores of 25-16, 25-12 and 25-11. North Star was dominant from start to finish, nine kills and five aces from Olivia King, while Kenidee Wolery had 23 assists.

Also last Thursday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters kicked off a busy week with a sweep of the Big Sandy Pioneers. Chinook won by scores of 25-12, 25-18 and 25-21. Hailey Bell had seven kills for the Beeters, while Delaney Kellam had eight digs and two blocks, and Ginger Hauer added 14 assists and three aces.

The week began with North Star sweeping Sunburst in a non-conference match, by scores of 25-4, 25-11 and 25-0. Shayla Borlaug had eight kills and five digs in the win, while Saige O'Neil had seven service aces.

The Box Elder Bears also got into the win column Friday night when they took care of the Hays-Lodge Pole Thunderbirds, by scores of 25-13, 20-25, 25-19 and 25-17 to go to 1-0 in 6C East play.

Meanwhile, the action moved to the tournament phase over the weekend.

On Friday and Saturday, Chinook played host to the Chinook Invitational, with a host of Class B and C schools in attendance.

In pool play Friday, Chinook defeated Malta, Highwood/Geraldine and Valier, while falling to Shelby. CJI lost to Glasgow, Tti-Cities, Simms and Bank in pool play as well.

In the bracket tournament Saturday, CJI lost matches to Malta and Shelby to be eliminated, while Chinook lost to Cut Bank in the quarterfinals, then defeated Malta and Highwood/Geraldine in loser-out matches to reach the consolation final. Chinook wound up finishing fourth, falling to Shelby in the consolation final. Glasgow beat Simms in the championship match.

Area teams also played in the Native American Classic in Rocky Boy Saturday and the Cascade Invitational in Cascade Saturday. No scores were reported.

TUESDAY

North Star def. Sunburst

25-4, 25-11, 25-0

North Star - Assists 19 (Kenidee Wolery 17), Kills 20 (Shayla Borlaug 8), Blocks 0, Digs 20 (Borlaug 5), Aces 25 (Saige O'Neil 7).

Sunburst - Assists 6 (Briana Robins 6), Kills 7 (Laura Meyer 3), Blocks 2 (Mac Wilson 2), Digs 34 (Robins 13), Aces 4 (Robins 4).

THURSDAY

Chinook def. Big Sandy

25-12, 25-18, 25-21

Chinook - Kills 20 (Hailey Bell 7), Aces 11 (Ginger Hauer 3, Lily Surber 3), Digs 38 (Delaney Kellam 8), Blocks 2 (Kellam 2), Assists 14 (Hauer 14).

Big Sandy - N/A.

North Star def. CJI

25-16, 25-12, 25-11

North Star - Assists 23 (Kenidee Wolery 23, Kills 27 (Olivia King 9), Blocks (Shayla Borlaug 1), Digs 40 (Saige O'Neil 10), Aces 13 (Wolery 5, King 5).

CJI - No stats reported

FRIDAY

Chinook Invite

Pool A

Chinook def. Malta; Highwood/Geraldine def. Valier; Shelby def. Malta; Chinook def. Highwood/geraldine; Shelby def. Valier; Highwood/Geraldine def. Malta; Shelby def. Chinook; Malta def. Valier; Shelby def. Highwood/Geraldine; Chinook def. Valier.

Pool B

Glasgow def. CJI; Cut Bank def. Tri-Cities; Glasgow def. Simms; Tri-Cities def. CJI; Simms def. Cut Bank; Glasgow def. Tri-Cities; Simms def. CJI; Glasgow def. Cut Bank; Tri-Cities def. Simms; Cut Bank def. CJI.

SATURDAY

Chinook Invite

1st round

Simms def. Valier; Malta def. CJI

Quarterfinals

Highwood/Geraldine def. Tri-Cities; Simms def. Shelby; Glasgow def. Malta; Cut Bank def. Chinook.

Loser-Out

Shelby def. CJI; Malta def. Valier; Shelby def. Tri-Cities; Chinook def. Malta; Shelby def. Cut Bank; Chinook def. Highwood/Geraldine.

Semifinal

Simms def. Highwood/Geraldine; Glasgow def. Cut Bank

Consolation

Shelby def. Chinook

Championship

Glasgow def. Simms