The Broadus Lady Hawk Volleyball team began their season at the Eastern Montana Classic Tournament in Glendive last weekend, facing a number of high ranking teams from across the eastern end of Big Sky Country, including teams such as Circle, North Country, Forsyth, Plentywood, Jordan, and the JV teams from Miles City and Glendive.
In a pre-season coaches poll of 2C teams, Broadus ranked first in the conference, coming off an undefeated regular season. The team that stopped Broadus in their tracks last year at Divisionals, and went on to win third at state was North Country. Broadus looked to avenge that loss last Saturday as they faced North Country in the first match of the tournament. Broadus beat the Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale co-op 25-19 and 25-22.
“The team was able to redeem their Divisional loss from last year; they showed great determination,” Broadus Head Coach Monica Smith said of their first match. 2023 is Smith’s first year as head coach in Broadus, though she has an accomplished history of volleyball coaching, having coached at Billings West for six years, and over four of those years were head coach at Billings West. She worked as the assistant coach last year in Broadus under then Head Coach Gordon Archer, before Archer’s retirement at the end of last season.
Smith told us she implemented a few changes to the program, and the team is doing great getting up to speed and adjusting to the changes. Broadus won their next match of the tournament against Jordan 25-16 and 25-10, then went on to beat Miles City’s JV 25-13 and 25-20.
The bracket play then began, with Broadus facing Glendive’s JV, which Broadus beat handily 25-17 and 25-8. The Lady Hawks then faced Jordan once again, winning 26-24 in a closer game than the first time around, and 25-19 in the second.
This win put Broadus up against their nemesis, the North Country Mavericks. Ciara McDowell, a talented setter for Broadus, had gone down earlier in the day with a bad ankle sprain, forcing Kendal Stanley and Maggie Mader to step into the vital role. The first game went to North Country in a tight competition, 27-25, then Broadus came back to win the second 25-20, setting up a third and final game to 15. North Country won this 15-8, with Broadus placing second in the tournament.
“The team faced some adversity with Ciara’s injury, but they responded well and played through instead of letting it define them,” Smith said of the tournament.
Broadus now looks to their first home match of the year, this Thursday against Savage. A match against Busby last week was cancelled. Broadus will then face Wibaux on Saturday, in Wibaux. Smith told us that Savage was looking strong last season and she expects them to be competitive. Wibaux is not fielding a JV team, being somewhat down on numbers this season. We'll have stats from the tournament next week.
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