Looking to rebound after being swept in the first crosstown matchup of the year, the Flathead Bravettes have home court advantage heading into today’s second installment of the crosstown volleyball rivalry.

“Crosstown is always a great environment,” Wolfpack coach Christy Harkins said.

“It’s much more intimate there, and it makes for a great volleyball environment.”

The Wolfpack (17-1 overall, 6-0 Western AA) is coming off an undefeated run at the Missoula Invite where they failed to lose a single set out of the 24 they played at the tournament.  

Although they swept Flathead in the first meeting between the two teams, Glacier isn’t looking past its rival.

“I think the girls are pretty humbled. They’re pretty understanding of what lies ahead of them,” Harkins said.

“Any crosstown game can be set up to be a great match. Flathead has some great talent.”

The Bravettes (7-9, 4-4) lost to Missoula Hellgate in five intense sets on Tuesday, but as Flathead coach Leon Wilcox points out, the records go out the window in crosstown, especially when impact players like Lizze Sherwood and Jourdan Schultz return to the lineup from previous injuries.

“We always look forward to the crosstown match. They’re always the most anticipated matches of the year,” Wilcox said

“It’s always different hosting it. The familiarity and comfortability playing in your own gym is always an emotional factor. Glacier is tough. They’ve been having a great season. We feel like were just getting to start our season over again getting those girls back in, and it’s going to be nice playing them with a full team.”

The Wolfpack swept Flathead in the first meeting behind Tessa Kruger’s 12 kills. Glacier had 40 total kills in the match and used 42 digs, 13 of which came from sophomore libero Hailee Bennett, to keep Flathead at bay.

“We’ve been working on our serving and passing. We’re trying to shore up our hitting and serve aggressively and keep them out of their offense,” Harkins said.

Flathead will look to stop the Glacier offense behind Xio Lopp and Tiana Johnson—two of the Bravettes top blockers.

“Both of our middles are going to be critical because we definitely need to try to slow down their offense. Xio’s been one of our top blockers.  It’s critical we get them in some action at the net. We need to slow Glacier down as much as possible.”

A boisterous crowd will be on hand at 7 p.m. to see if Glacier can sweep the crosstown series for the second straight year.

A win for the Wolfpack would tie the volleyball crosstown rivalry at eight games a piece.