Season ends for North Country despite strong effort at Eastern C

The season came to an end for the North Country Mavericks Volleyball Team at the Eastern C Divisional in Sidney last Friday, November 5 .

The young team went 1-2, defeating Broadus 3-1 in the first round of the tournament on Thursday, November 4, then falling to Plentywood 0-3 in the second round later that day, and then losing 2-3 to Circle, by dropping the last three sets.

"We won the first 2 sets and really weren't rolling fluidly," North Country Head Coach Charlene Wasson said. "In set three, Circle made a rotation adjustment which seemed to really get their hitters rolling and we never could recover from this. We also missed eight serves in set three, which we lost 21 to 25. We just needed to get the job done in that 3rd set and didn't."

Despite their fall to Circle, the Mavericks nearly knocked off a Wildcats team that hadn't lost a match until their district tournament this year. The scores were NC 27 - C 25, NC 25 - C 20, NC 21 - C 25, NC 15 - C 25, and NC 11 - C 15

Paige Wasson led the Mavs in their loss to Circle with 21 kills. Teagan Erickson had 12 kills, six blocks, and three aces. Jaycee Erickson had 21 assists. Zandora Longtree had 14 assists and 14 digs.

In the team's opening-round win over Broadus, the scores were NC 25 - B 17, NC 25 - B 17, NC 14 - B 25, and NC 25 - B 22.

T. Erickson and Wasson each had 10 kills. T. Erickson had five blocks, Wasson had four, and Kendall Scheffelmear had two. J. Erickson had 15 assists. Kora LaBrie and Zandora Longtree each had six assists.

"We opened up strong against the Broadus Hawks who were the number 2 seed out of their district," Coach Wasson said. "Then we took on Plentywood and overall this match was played better than our district matchup against them. We were able to hold ourselves together and finish plays with great hits and digs. We just couldn't take a set from them in that match."

In the team's second-round loss to Plentywood, the scores were NC 25 - PW 27, NC 27 - PW 29, and NC 12 - PW 25.

P. Wasson had 10 kills. T. Erickson and Scheffelmear both had nine kills. J. Erickson had 20 assists. Longtree had 11 digs and T. Erickson had four blocks.

Coach Wasson was really appreciative of her senior class, including Jaycee Erickson, Zandora Longtree, and Mattea McColly, who led the team this season.

"I will miss our three seniors next season," Coach Wasson said. "I would like to thank them for all they have given to me and their team over the course of this season and past seasons. Our locker room talk on Friday after losing out was sad but had many positive notes too. Between crying and wiping our tears we had some kids give some really nice talks that lead to other kids stepping up to be heard."

Coach Wasson found the conversations very uplifting, despite the circumstance of losing their last three sets on the tournament.

"It was the maturity and growth I saw the most from this group of girls this season that I take away and am super proud of them for," Coach Wasson said.