FLORENCE — Ronan’s volleyball team trekked to Florence for the second straight weekend, and for the second straight weekend the Maidens left town with a 1-2 record.

It was the Maidens’ first trip to the divisional tournament but that didn’t keep them from setting lofty goals.

“It was our goal all season to take home some hardware from divisionals,” senior Alaina Madsen said. “We had our sights set on third place. Being in the top two and going to state would have been amazing but it was our first year even being at divisionals and I’d say we were a little nervous.”

First-year Ronan coach Adrienna DeCock agreed.

“I think we definitely are a better team than what we showed,” DeCock said.

The Maidens fell into an early hole when they dropped their first match of the weekend to District 7B champion Bigfork in five sets.

“We were the better team,” DeCock said. “We beat them in stats all across the board, but we made the most errors.”

The Maidens rebounded in the loser’s bracket to take care of Plains in straight sets, but DeCock knew it would be a challenge from there.

“We just needed to come back and have the tournament of our lives because it was a much longer road than we had anticipated,” she said.

The next draw for Ronan was district foe Loyola, to whom the Maidens fell in straight sets.

The Maidens suffered a major setback midway through the first set when middle hitter Kenzie Dulmes sprained her ankle.

“I think it definitely lowered their spirits,” DeCock said. “Not having her really hurt, especially on the blocking end.”

It wasn’t tournament nerves that got to them, though DeCock insisted, because so much of the team had played on the Maidens softball team that finished as the Class B runner-up last season.

“They’re not new to a tournament atmosphere,” she said. “They’re just new to it in volleyball.”

DeCock said that her team came a long way over the season, thanks in large part to the work that Madsen and fellow seniors Raymi Clairmont and Christine Robinson put in. Madsen led the Maidens in kills and was their second-leading digger. Robinson, the setter, made all but 17 of Ronan’s assists this season and Clairmont led the team in hitting percentage and was second in blocks, but that’s not what DeCock appreciated most out of the group.

“As far as leadership, they were great,” DeCock said. “They stood behind me from day one which I think helped the underclassmen believe. … I know they would have liked to have gone farther, but just making it to divisionals, I think, was the highlight of their season.”

Madsen credited DeCock with much of Ronan’s new-found success.

“Coach DeCock was a huge part of turning our program around,” she said. “She knows what to say at the right times and just knows the game so well that we were able to put some things together that we hadn’t before.”

Ronan’s strength was in their junior class, a fact which bodes well for next year’s squad, DeCock said. Outside hitter Kendra Starkel had a breakout season (150 kills, 41 aces), Sydnee Clairmont (108 kills, 40 aces, 28 blocks) built on an all-conference sophomore year and libero Danielle Richwine (329 digs) had an outstanding year on the back row.