The Columbia Falls Wildkats are a confident bunch after snaring a pair of upset wins over Frenchtown and claiming the Northwestern A divisional volleyball title last Friday and Saturday.

They’re eyeing a bigger prize at this week’s Class A state tournament, which begins today at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman.

“I think the girls can go all the way if they have the heart and the desire and the passion,” Columbia Falls coach Josie Brown said. “If they don’t get stuck in their own heads, they can battle it out. They’re all anticipating coming home with some hardware from state, so we’ll see if the momentum can get them there.”

With multiple players returning from last year’s team, which finished second at the state tournament, Frenchtown (15-3) was the Northwest’s juggernaut all season. The Broncs went a perfect 8-0 in conference play and won six of the seven sets it played against Columbia Falls (11-6), but that all changed at the Missoula Invitational tournament in mid-0ctober. Columbia Falls crushed Frenchtown 20-11, 20-12 in pool play and realized it could compete with anyone.

“I think that was huge,” Brown said. “They were able to get past that (mental) block of playing a better team and realize that they have as many flaws as any other team. We just needed to find them and capitalize on them.”

Columbia Falls did just that in the divisional tournament when it dropped Frenchtown in three sets in the unbeaten semifinal. Frenchtown bounced back with a sweep over the Wildkats in the first championship game and ran away with the opening set of the second title game 25-8, but Columbia Falls won the next three sets to claim the conference title and the Northwest’s No. 1 seed at the state tournament.

“I could tell they had it,” Brown said. “They were relaxed, they had fun. Once they had the confidence I knew that they were going to do well.”

The Wildkats have a relatively young squad with just two seniors, but they have state tournament experience after going 0-2 at last year’s competition. Six-foot-1 outside hitter Haley Belgarde is among the conference leaders in kills and 5-11 middle hitter Winter Kemppainen puts up a tough block.

Columbia Falls will play Miles City, the second seed from the Eastern A conference, in the first round at noon.

“They’ve got a couple of great outside hitters,” Brown said of Miles City. “Pretty consistent servers. They’ve got quite a few aces so we’ve been working on our defense.”

If the Wildkats get past Miles City, they’ll play the winner between Central A champion Lewistown and Southwestern A runner-up Dillon. Lewistown won back-to-back Class A titles in 2010 and 2011 and finished fourth last year.

The other half of the bracket includes unbeaten Corvallis, which ran away with the Southwestern A title and swept a pair of nonconference matches against Columbia Falls during the regular season. Central A runner-up Belgrade plays Corvallis in the first round and Frenchtown will take on Eastern A champion Billings Central.

Class A State Volleyball

At Brick Breeden Fieldhouse

in Bozeman

Thursday

First round

10 a.m. — Lewistown vs. Dillon

Noon — Columbia Falls vs. Miles City

2 p.m. — Corvallis vs. Belgrade

4 p.m. — Billings Central vs. Frenchtown

Second round

6 p.m. — Lewistown-Dillon winner vs. Columbia Falls-Miles City winner

8 p.m. — Corvallis-Belgrade winner vs. Billings Central-Frenchtown winner