Wildfire Volleyball: Team opens against Lustre in 3-C Tournament

The Saco-Hinsdale Wildfire tied for second in 3-C volleyball with the Lustre Christian Lady Lions at 11:30 a.m. in Saco.

Unfortunately both teams can’t have a bye game at this weekend’s tournament.

So the teams had a coin flip, with Saco-Hinsdale winning, but the Wildfire opted to play the first game, rather than receive the bye week.

While the notion may sound crazy to many, the reason for the team to face an opponent in the first round, it makes perfect sense.

Many of the team’s key players will be out of town for FFA Nationals in Kentucky until the night before the tourney, meaning those players will miss a few crucial days of practice.

Thus the team will need to be warmed up before they play in tougher rounds.

If they do make it past Lustre, they will face Nashua in the following round at 2:30 p.m. on Friday.

The Wildfire blazed through the Brockton Warriors for the second time this season in four games last Thursday. The scores were 21-25, 25-23, 25-19 and 25-23.

The team was led by Freshman hitter Mickayla Johnson, who had 14 kills, the team had 41 total.

Libero Payton Chopper led the team in aces with six of 15.

Setter Delaney Beil had a team high 30 assists, of 31 total.

Courtney Capdeville had five digs of 16.

“We were aggressive at the net,” said Wildfire Head Coach Kathy Siroky. “We need to have better efficiency in passing.”

Passing has been an issue all year for the team, who is young but learning.

If they find themselves in the championship round of the District tourney, they will likely see Scobey, who is undefeated in the regular season.

Saco-Hinsdale lost their last game of the season against Scobey last Friday in three rounds.

In numbers, Scobey looked like they could rival many B schools around Montana.

“They are tough. They have a lot of seniors on that team,” Coach Siroky said. “We just all need to come together and play as one and be aggressive.”

Aggressiveness was missing in that loss, with the Wildfire playing with their heads down for most of the game.

The team registered only five kills, with Johnson recording three and Alana Malmend the other two.

Jada Sudbrack had a team high five digs of 14.

The team recorded four blocks, with Capdeville and Johnson having two a piece.

Delaney Beil led the team in assists with four of nine.

The team did only have four