The Flathead volleyball team dominated Missoula Big Sky during the regular season, but there will be more on the line tonight when the Western AA foes square off for the fifth time at 6 p.m. at Flathead High School.

Tonight’s match determines which team will advance to the state tournament. A Flathead win would send the Bravettes to the state tournament for an 11th straight year, while Big Sky is looking for its first postseason appearance since 2007.

Flathead (16-10 overall, 9-3 Western AA) easily swept Big Sky (3-18, 1-11) in both of their conference meetings and also swept a pair of two-set matches against the Eagles in invitational tournament play.

“I think the only thing I’d be concerned about is us overlooking them, because we have beat them during the season,” Flathead coach Leon Wilcox said. “I don’t want to overlook any AA team in the state, especially when it’s a playoff situation.”

Flathead enters the playoff game with four consecutive conference victories and seven wins in its last eight conference matches, the only loss being a five-set heartbreaker against conference champion Glacier. The Bravettes opened conference play 2-2.

“I think we hadn’t peaked yet,” Wilcox said of his team’s slow start. “I think we had a pretty new team in that they hadn’t played together a lot. Had a lot of new elements and I think it took a long time for us to develop some chemistry. I don’t even think we’ve actually peaked yet. I think we’re still on the upswing.”

Flathead features a potent offense led by seniors Timi Severson and Emma Andrews. Severson ranks first in Western AA in kills per set (4.39) and attack efficiency (.289) while Andrews is second in the conference with 3.95 kills per set. Setter Jessica Simmons leads the conference in assists per set (10.24).

Flathead also has a strong back row. Andrews and libero Iris Matulevich rank first and second in Western AA in serve receive accuracy and Matulevich is fourth in digs per set (4.36).

As a team, Flathead leads the conference with an attack efficiency of .212. Big Sky is second-to-last at .058, but the Eagles have a strong middle blocker in sophomore Anna Gragg.

“They’ve got a big player in the middle who can put up a pretty good block and they play scrappy,” Wilcox said. “I’ve seen them give some very good teams a hard time because they play hard. We just need to make sure we put a little more intensity and hustle into our game than they do.”

Flathead is Western AA’s second seed while Big Sky is No. 7.