Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 51F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph..

Cloudy skies early, followed by partial clearing. Low 51F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph.

The Choteau High School varsity girls won a pair of District 1B matches last week, defeating Conrad and Shelby. This week, the girls, now 5-0 in conference play, will host Rocky Boy on Sept. 22 and the CHS Midseason Tournament on Sept. 24.

Choteau will field all three squads on Thursday, with the C squad starting at 4:15 p.m., followed by the junior varsity and varsity squads. Choteau’s varsity girls defeated Rocky Boy earlier this season.

On Saturday, the tournament will start at 9 a.m. and will have divisions for C squads, junior varsity squads and varsity squads. All teams will play two-set matches with each set played to 21. After all the teams in each pool have played each other, the top two will play for the championship in two sets to 25. If there’s a tie, the teams will play a seven-point tie-breaker.

Schools bringing teams to the tournament are Jefferson County High School from Boulder, Great Falls Central Catholic High School, Malta High School, Belt High School and Augusta High School. Play is expected to wrap up around 6 p.m.

Choteau head coach Ann Funk said the girls are looking forward to playing a lot of matches this week and getting more playing time on the floor with their teammates — a vital time to improve communication, get more comfortable with each other and boost their serve and serve-receive, attacks and defense.

Funk said she hopes to have junior all-around player Ainsley DeBruycker back full-time this week, but that will depend on how her hand, cut in a school shop mishap two weeks ago, is healing. DeBruycker has been able to play back row and to serve, but not to play the front.

Funk said this season has brought its own particular challenges for all three squads. The addition of seven eighth graders who are playing mostly on the C squad has helped improve practices, but those girls have to give junior high tennis and basketball their priority. That means there has been a lot of fluctuation in who is able to play each week.

Volleyball is a true team sport and the teams that do the best are those with great communication in which each player knows how the players around them are going to respond in any given circumstance. Funk said those are challenges that the girls are ready to meet and overcome, and in practice they are continuing to drill on the basics and to give the girls as much experience playing together as they can.

The C squad team is down one player this week as eighth grader Claire Long sustained a high ankle sprain in a junior high basketball game last week.

Funk also said the girls are working on their blocking skills and on developing the kind of awareness that allows them to read the opponent and to adjust their defense to stop whatever kind of attack the opponent is using. On defense, they will also be working to improve their skills against a team that tips a lot, as Shelby did in last Saturday’s match.

In last week’s play, the varsity squad defeated Conrad on the road in straight sets. There was no C squad game, and the junior varsity girls won their match as well, 25-10, 25-17 and 15-11.

At home against Shelby, the C squad came up with a big win, 25-14, 25-19, 19-17, and the JV fought back after losing the first set to win, 18-25, 26-24, 9-15, 15-8, 15-11.

In varsity action, Choteau’s girls came out hot and won the first set, 25-12. The second set was all Shelby as hitters Jori Clary and Cameron Blevins led their team to an 8-2 lead early in the set and never let Choteau back in the game. Shelby did a great job of finding the undefended left side of Choteau’s court and put down effective kills there and to the back-court line and tipped to a mid-court hole. Choteau lost this set, 16-25.

In the third set, the teams played point for point before Choteau started to pull away. Ada Bieler put down a kill to give Choteau sideout, up 12-10, and with Asia Bouma serving, Choteau reeled off four points, scoring on a dig error, kills by Bieler and Tessa Brownell and a block by Bieler and Maili Miller, to lead, 16-10. Choteau kept up the pressure and won the set, 25-20.

In the fourth and final set, Shelby opened with the serve, but a Bouma block gave Choteau sideout at 1-1, and with Bouma serving, Choteau jumped out to a 5-1 lead, scoring on two kills by Miller, a hitting error and a Bieler block. Shelby’s offense continued to work hard though and tied the set at 10-10 on a nice tip to a mid-court hole.

A kill by Bouma gave Choteau the sideout and lead, 13-11, and with Bouma serving, Choteau went on another run, scoring on a pass error, a hitting error, two kills by Bieler, one kill by Brownell and an ace to take the lead, 19-11. Choteau led for the rest of the set, winning 25-15.

The match saw solid setting from Ella Peach and Brownell, and good hitting from Bieler, Bouma, Miller, Ceanna Leys and Lily Heiberg. Aly Wood, the team’s libero, came in to play the back row and DeBruycker rotated in across the back. Kylee Kovatch, a junior varsity setter, also rotated in several times.

Choteau leaders — Aces 2 (Ada Bieler 2); blocks 6 (Lily Heiberg 4); assists 17 (Tessa Brownell 12); digs 52 (Bieler 17); kills 22 (Heiberg 9).

Choteau leaders — Aces 4 (Ainsley DeBruycker 2); blocks 17 (Ada Bieler 10); digs 82 (Bieler 16); assists 26 (Ella Peach 15); kills 31 (Bieler 11).

Shelby leaders — Aces 8 (Cami Blevins 3, Debney Clark 2, Jori Clary 2); blocks 2 (Blevins 2); assists 30 (Addison Richman 28); digs 42 (Clary 16, Adele Lamb 9); kills 34 (Clary 13, Blevins 10).

Rex's Market Main Street Express Choteau Drug Dutton Mountain View Co-op Fairfield Mountain View Co-op Fairfield Drug R&L Eagle Grocery

Mailing address: P.O. Box 320, Choteau, MT 59422 Street address: 216 First Ave. NW, Choteau MT 59422 Telephone: 406-466-2403 Business office hours: Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. News email: acantha@3rivers.net Advertising email: tetonads@3rivers.net