By Ron Davis

The Butte Central Maroon volleyball team made their home debut at the MAC this afternoon playing host to the Stevensville Yellowjackets.  The Yellowjackets won the match 25-17, 25-17, 25-23.

“We never got into flow of the game this afternoon.  We were out of sync from the opening serve,” Coach Becky Hancock commented after the game. “We tried changing up the rotation during the match, trying to find a spark,” She added; “we’ve got to work on finding the flow of the game in our hitting, passing, serving and blocking.”

First Set

The Maroons got down 3-5 in the first set when Brooke Badovinac went to the service line.  The Senior put her squad up 7-5 with well-placed serves. The game went back and fourth with the Maroons taking the lead at 16-14.  That was the last lead by the Maroons as Stevensville rallied to go up 19-15 forcing a BC timeout.  The Maroons came out of the break with a side out and a Molly Drew drive to make the score 19-17.  The Yellowjackets served the next 6 points to take the first game 25-17.

Second Set

The Yellowjackets jumped out to a 12-7 advantage in the second set backed by 5 ace serves.  Senior Molly Drew teamed up with Freshman Lucy Kelly with tough play at the net to take the Maroons to 17-12.  Once again Stevi put together a rally to finish the set 25-17.

Third Set

The third set saw the Maroons trail 11-5. Maycee Anderson dug three hard kills from Stevensville, igniting a BC rally. Their momentum brought the Maroons ahead to a 12-11 advantage.  Things were tied at 13 when Ella Moodry split the defense with a kill shot for a 14-13 lead. A Kelly block and a Mia Keeley set to Moodry for another hard spike had the home team up 15-14.  Yellowjackets and Maroons fought for dominance as they tied again at 16, 17, and 20.  Molly Drew broke the tie with a hard hit to the back row followed by an ace serve to put the Maroons on top 22-20.  Stevensville called a time out and came back on the court forcing a side out and two service points to go up 23-22.  The Maroons tied it back up on a long rally point ending with a tip by Badovinac to tie it at 23.  The Yellowjackets returned the serve with a kill for a one point lead and an ace serve finished the set 25-23.

Butte Central Maycee Anderson led the back court with 13 digs.  Ella Moodry dug up 11 to go with 5 kills and an ace serve. Molly Drew had 7 digs, 4 kills and 2 ace serves.  Brooke Badovinac was tough at the net with 4 kills, 4 blocks and in the back row she had 1 ace and 3 digs. Mia Keeley set up 15 assists to go with solid serving and defense.

The Maroons take their 0-2 conference record to Dillon Tuesday night for a 7pm match.