By Holly Jordan Carpenter

The Flathead Bravettes worked hard against an aggressive Butte Bulldog team to take the win 3 – 1 in the Friday night match on the Bulldog’s home court.

The Bulldogs came out strong fighting neck and neck for a first set win eventually falling 28 – 26 to the Bravettes. The close loss didn’t stop the Bulldogs who then came back strong to beat the Bravettes in the second set 23 – 25. That was the only set the Bulldogs would celebrate with the last two ending 25 – 22 and 25 – 15 for the Bravettes.

#16 Averie Olsen goes up for a kill

Seniors, Laura Rosenleaf, Averie Olson, Camille Kautzman and Ashlyn Burnett showed great leadership in the sets. Rosenleaf led the Bulldogs with 10 kills and 20 digs, Olson followed with 5 kills and 13 digs. Kautzman ended the match with 2 kills, 14 digs and 1 ace and Burnett 1 kill, 3 digs and 1 ace. Sophomore, Jaycee Cleveland, showed the crowd that the younger players have a great future as well adding 4 kills, 10 digs, 1 ace and an impressive 21 assists.

#3 setter Jaycee Cleveland sets to #7 Ashlyn Burnett

Even though the Bulldogs lost 3 – 1, Coach Shane Jorgensen was pleased with his team’s positive and aggressive effort on the court stating, “We served the ball very well tonight and almost hit our goal of 92%.” The Bulldogs finished the game with 90.5% serving, the highest percentage they have served so far this year. Jorgensen has been working hard with the team on communication noting that will be one of the keys to their success this year. “Tonight, when our communication broke down on a couple of occasions, our errors increased.”

Coach Jorgensen went on to say “I really need the girls to understand that we are fairly inexperienced on a varsity court. They continue to grow each and every day and get better.” Jorgensen is confident that with consistency and patience, the team will meet their goal to be playing their best volleyball the last couple weeks of the season. “Tonight was the first night that we had our rotations set. For the first six matches of the season, we still had a couple open positions we were playing with so we are not as comfortable as we would like. That will come with more court time.”

The Bulldogs will get more court time at 2:00 tomorrow afternoon when they host the Glacier Wolfpack at the Ross Richardson Gymnasium.

#13 defensive specialist Camille Kautzman digs the ball

#12 Mickenzie McIntyre with a spike

Bulldogs celebrate after a kill

#14 Laura Rosenleaf with a hard hit

#16 Averie Olsen and #4 Maddie Luedtke with a block