Polson came back to the arena to face Fergus. The Pirates dropped the game in three 18-25, 20-25, 24-26.
This puts the Pirates in fourth place in the state tournament.
The Pirates came out for its game against Fergus looking slow. The players seemed to know where they were supposed to be but getting there a fraction of a second late. At one point, Polson found themselves down by eight points.
In the beginning of the second set, Polson held its only lead of the game. Sallie Sams stepped up and provided great blocking for Polson. She had three blocks in a row that each led to points for the Pirates. They never gave up, coming back to trail by five.
The third set showed a better Pirate team. They never trailed by more than four points and that was at the beginning of the set.
Christa Red Crow knocked her right leg when she dove for a ball and was taken out of the game for a couple points. Kayla Duford served two aces in a row to bring the Pirates within two points.
Polson came back to a 18-17 score. Than Fergus scored. Than Polson scored. It went this way until the score was tied at 24. Fergus scored two more points to end the game and the Pirates season.
Duford served four aces and Nicole Davey had two. Breanne Kelley had 10 kills, Sallie Sams had all four of Polson's blocks and Riley Kenney led with 15 digs.
Each Polson player was upset about the loss, but head coach Jan Toth said "I couldn't have asked for more" as she walked off the court with her team.
Two years ago, this team went 1-17 and didn't make it out of the divisional tournament.
This year, they took fourth with many of the same players from that team. Four seniors, Staci Benson, Loni Havlovic, Red Crow and Davey, have seen this team at the bottom and at the top. Each has led the team. I did get a chance to sit down with the four of them before the divisional tournament. Look for that story in the newspaper in the coming weeks.
See this week's Leader for extended coverage and pictures of the State tournament.
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