Volleyball is a sport of inches, or less. A ball just grazes the sideline, or doesn’t; a hit deflects off outstretched fingertips, dropping just out of reach.
And last weekend, the Jefferson High volleyball squad fell just short of capping a terrific season with a trophy at the Class B state tournament in Bozeman — settling instead for fourth place and the only somewhat satisfying knowledge that they came that close amid a very tough field.
The Panthers opened play on Thursday against Fairfield, the top seed from the North Division. Jefferson took the first set easily, 25-11, but Fairfield went up 9-4 to start the second. The Panthers came back to tie at 11, Fairfield took the lead at 20-17 lead, and the Panthers rebounded again to tie the score at 24. But Fairfield finally closed out the set, 28-26.
The Panthers won the third, 25-22, and Fairfield took the fourth, 25-19. That left things to a deciding fifth set. The Panthers scored the first 5 points, an ace by Cameron Toney made it 11-5, and Ryian Eveland closed it out with a kill to give the Panthers a 15-8 win. Toney led the way with 22 kills, 5 blocks and 16 digs. Erica Shields had an ace, 33 assists and 25 digs; Brooklyn Miller made 11 kills, a block and 10 digs; Eveland 12 kills, 7 blocks, 5 digs, and Maddy Averill an ace and 34 digs.
Jefferson faced Huntley Project in the second round. The Panthers had blanked the Red Devils in the South Division tournament, 3-0, but this was a different affair: Huntley Project took the match, 25-17, 25-9, 25-19. Toney had 9 kills, 1.5 blocks and 5 digs in this one. Shields added 14 assists and 7 digs; Miller 5 kills, and 0.5 blocks; Eveland 1 kill, 4 blocks and a dig; Averill an ace and 17 digs; Popp 2 aces, 7 assists and 7 digs; Grace Quigley 1.5 blocks; Maia Walters 9 digs; Aubrey Rosenbaum 1 dig; Allison Zawacki 1 kill, Parker Layng 2 assists, and Jaida Jurenka 5 digs.
That put Jefferson in the consolation bracket — a scenario they were well familiar with, having won four straight in the loser-out draw to make it to the divisional final. And their first match on Friday, against Shelby, held to the pattern. Averill’s ace put the Panthers up 6-2, Eveland and Miller put over kills to make it 10-4 and the Panthers were on the way to a 25-11 first set win.
The second began with a kill by Shields, starting Jefferson on an 8-2 run. Shelby fought back to pull to 14-12 and then tied the score at 17. Coach Mike Majors called a time-out to change the flow of the game — and the Panthers responded with a 11-7 run to take the win 25-19.
In the third, Avery Popp’s ace put the Panthers up 4-0 in the third, and Toney put over an ace and followed with a kill that shook the floor. And Eveland’s kills were hitting the floor hard enough to knock the air out of the ball. With a 23-12 lead, the Panther subs took over and finished off the match with a 25-15 win.
That set the stage for Florence-Carlton, a team the Panther had met at the Jefferson invitational tournament during the regular season. This would prove a taut match to the finish. In the first set, Grace Quigley tied the match at 12, and Toney put down a pair of kills to put the Panthers up 15-12, which ballooned to 21-14. But then the flow changed, and Florence came back to win the set, 25-23.
The Panthers took the second set, 25-12. And in the third, a pair of kills by Toney gave the Panthers a 10-5 lead in the set, and an ace by very Popp put the Panthers up 13-6 on their way to a 25-21 win.
That left Jefferson just one set away from victory and at least a third-place finish. But Florence took the fourth set, 25-19, then went on to take the tie-breaker, 15-8, and the match. Toney had 22 kills, 5 blocks, 16 digs, Shields 1 ace, 33 assists, 25 digs, Miller 11 kills, 1 block, 10 digs, Eveland 12 kills, 7 blocks, 5 digs, Averill 1 ace, 34 digs, Popp 3 digs, Quigley1 kill, 2.5 blocks, Walters 11 digs, Rosenbaum 6 assists, 3 digs, Parker Layng 1 ace, 4 assists, 6 digs, Jurenka 1 assist, 2 digs.
It was the end of a great year for Coach Mike Majors and the Lady Panthers. Florence-Carlton made it to the finals, where the Falcons lost to Huntley Project. Baker took third place.
