Surviving to Saturday: Granite beats Seeley Swan

CHURCHHILL – The Granite Lady Prospectors made it through the first two days of the Class C Western Division Volleyball Tournament Saturday, beating Seeley Swan 3-0.

The victory gives Granite the opportunity to play for the Consolation Bracket Championship and within two matches of a seat at the table for the state tournament. They have a rematch with White Sulphur Springs at 11 a.m. Saturday. If they win, they’ll play the loser of the Gardiner-Manhattan Christian Winner’s Bracket Final 30 minutes after their previous match.

Granite broke from the gate in set one to take an 8-2 lead, forcing Seeley into a timeout. The Lady Prospectors maintained their lead until late, when the Lady Blackhawks started creeping back in. But after a Seeley timeout, an Addi Lilyquist kill stopped the climb and gave the locals a 1-0 advantage.

Set two was closer, and the two squads stayed close until it was knotted at 23-all. But once again the Lady Prospectors rose to the challenge, scoring th4e final two points of the set and earning a 2-0 match lead.

That seemed to be more than the Lady Blackhawks could take. They fell behind early, allowing GHS Head Coach Kaley Hansen to rotate in some of her reserve players as Granite coasted to the victory.

Senior Montannah Piar led Granite with 12 kills and two blocks. Lilyquist also had two blocks to go with her nine kills at the net. Allison Benson led in aces with four and Ella Talon had 25 assists.

SCORING

Seeley Swan – 21/23/14 – 0

Granite – 25/25/25 – 3

STATISTICS

KILLS – Smith 4, Benson 1, Piar 6, Tallon 4, Piar 12, Lilyquist 9

BLOCKS – Smith 1, Piar 2, Lilyquist 2

ASSISTS – Benson 2, Spehar 1, Tallon 25

DIGS – Smith 4, Benson 2, Spehar 2, Tallon 3, Piar 7, White 1, Lilyquist 4

ACES – Comings 1, Benson 3, Spehar 2, Tallon 2, Lilyquist 1