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Despite having to overcome injuries to a few of their starters and losing their first set of the play-in game against Poplar, the Malta M-ettes Volleyball team was able to punch their ticket to the Northern B Divisional Tournament.

"We are feeling pretty good," M-ette senior Kaylanna Bain said. "We have some ups and downs that we need to work on but I think we have it. We just have to keep pushing hard."

The Divisional Tournament will be held in Wolf Point this weekend with eight teams vying for only three spots in the 2019 State B Volleyball Tournament in Bozeman set to start on Thursday, November 14.

The M-ettes open up the 2019 Class B Northern Divisional Volleyball Tournament on Thursday, November 7, at 10 a.m. against Choteau, who won the 1B title after defeating Shelby 3-0. Choteau fought back in the elimination bracket after losing their second match against Shelby. Choteau was 3-1 at the tournament.

"One thing I know about Choteau is that they are competitors," Malta Coach Tasha Hines said. "They are going to show up and they are going to play every single ball like it is the last point of the game. It's a strong program and we need to come in swinging and limiting our errors."

Malta won the only match that mattered as far as getting into the Northern B, defeating the Poplar Indians for the third time this year.

The M-ettes lost 10-25 in their opening set to the Indians but won the final sets 25-20, 25-20, and 25-22.

Malta was led by Sidney Meeks who had six of Malta's 24 kills. Maddie Williamson accounted for 13 of the team's assists. Malta had 17 aces. Macy Williamson and Lauren Tuss led in aces with 4 apiece. Macy also had a team-high 9 digs.

Overcoming several injuries, the team was able to do what it needed to do to move on.

"They threw me in the back row for Kylie (Hunter), so I got to play back-row and Rylee Hines was the libero. She stepped up and did a good job," Bain said.

Glasgow, who would eventually win the 2B crown, defeated Malta in three sets in the second round of the tournament. The scores were 25-5, 25-10, and 25-13.

Malta was led by Bain, who had two kills. Kaylee Bishop had six digs, Tuss had two assists, and Bishop had Malta's lone ace.

Malta would fare better against Wolf Point, taking the Lady Wolves to five sets. Ultimately Wolf Point won the set, giving them the 3-2 victory. The scores were: 25-18 MAL, 25-20 WP, 25-16 WP, 25-22 MAL, and 15-7 WP.

AJ Etherington / Glasgow Courier

Malta's Kaylee Bishop goes up for a kill in Malta's win over Poplar in Glasgow last Friday.

M-ette senior Carly Garfield had a game-high nine kills and five blocks. Malta had a total of 29 kills. Macy Williamson had 17 of Malta's 68 digs. Tuss and Maddie Williamson each had 12 assists.

"We were a different team when we played Wolf Point," Coach Hines said. "We did have some errors but they were limited. We were faster on the net, we were transitioning quicker, we were covering our hitters. We just needed to get our serves in during that last set. That's the difference. We need to make sure we limit that error."

Bain shared what the team needs to work on this week to perform well at the Northern B.

"We have to work on our serve-receive, our defensive spots, we have to get our serves in and everything else basically," Bain said. "Our serves did us in that last game. I think we weren't focused on getting them over and we struggled."