M-ettes Third in 2B Tournament

This weekend, Malta High School will be hosting the 2023 Northern B Tournament, and the Malta M-ettes will be in the house thanks to their third place finish in the District 2B Tournament.

Malta Head Coach Hines was asked how it felt to make it to the Northern B tournament.

"It feels great," Coach Hines said. "We really peaked at the right time."

The Malta M-ettes started the 2023 District 2B Tournament with a 3-1 win over the Poplar Indians on Thursday, October 26, in Glasgow. Malta then fell 2-3 to the Wolf Point Wolves on the morning of Friday, October 27. Later that day, the M-ettes did not surrender a set, as they defeated the Harlem Lady Wildcats 3-0 to earn a spot in the Northern B, and then the Glasgow Lady Scotties 3-0.

"We came to play!" Coach Tasha Hines said. "We knew we had a long road after losing to Wolf Point the first time, but our goals were still achievable. Our energy was on point Friday, the girls were focused and driven all day long which helped us beat Harlem and take Glasgow in three, to see Wolf Point in the semi finals Saturday!"

Malta fell 1-3 in a rematch with Wolf Point on Saturday, October 28, and secured a third place finish. Wolf Point went on to take on the Fairview Warriors in the 2B Championship game but lost 0-3.

Malta will face the Conrad Cowgirls in Match 2 of the Northern B Tournament on Thursday, November 2. Conrad enter's the Northern B Tournament as the second seed in the 1B District after losing the 1B Championship game 0-3 to the Fairfield Eagles last Saturday, October 28.

Like Malta, Conrad went 3-2 at their district tournament. Conrad defeated Rocky Boy in the opening round, and Choteau 3-2 in the second round. They lost 1-3 to Fairfield in the semifinals, but fought back to defeat Shelby 3-0 for a berth into the championship against Fairfield.

This year, only two teams from the North will make it to the State Volleyball Tournament in Bozeman set to start on Thursday, November 9.

In Malta's third place match win over Glasgow, the scores were 25-23, 25-20, and 25-19.

The M-ettes were led by Denvyr Tuss, who had 11 of Malta's 25 kills. Kataya KillEagle had seven of 12 aces. Neva Jacobson had 17 of 25 assists, and 15 of 75 digs. Giona Lamb had three of six blocks.

"The girls were determined," Coach Hines said. "We played through everything and stayed together as a team while running an effective offense and a scrappy defense! It was great energy! I don't think I've seen that level of focus before the Glasgow game, there was no way they were leaving that gym defeated to Glasgow again."

In Malta's win over Harlem, the scores were 25-8, 25-20, and 25-22. Malta was led by Lamb who had eight kills and two blocks. Kendall Clausen had 17 digs and five aces. Neva Jacobson had 14 assists.

In Malta's first loss to Wolf Point, the scores were 18-25, 25-16, 25-22, 24-26, and 9-15. The M-ettes were up 23-21 in the fourth set, but Wolf Point went on a 5-1 run to win the set and the momentum.

Malta was led by Tuss, who had 13 kills. Clausen had three aces and 18 digs. Macey Blunt had 15 assists. Jacobson, Tuss, Clausen, and L0amb each had four blocks.

In their opening win over Poplar, the scores were 21-25, 25-10, 25-14, and 25-14.

Tuss had 15 kills and three blocks. Jacobson and Blunt both had 16 assists. Clausen and Addison Ulrich both had 17 digs. Clausen and Ava Hanson both had three aces.

In Malta's second place match against Wolf Point, the scores were 26-24, 15-25, 9-25, and 26-28.

Tuss led Malta with 13 kills. Jacobson had 26 digs and 22 assists. Clausen had four aces and KillEagle had one block.

Coach Hines was asked what made Wolf Point so tough to play in their two matchups.

"Sierra Hamilton for one," Coach Hines said. "But serves are a great tool for keeping the wolves out of system, which slows the offense and gets us that chance for a one on one hit vs block, and unfortunately, we missed some key serves that really gave them the opportunity to gain momentum. We were also pretty darn sore and worn out from Friday's hard played matches."