HAMILTON – After finishing last season battling in the brackets of the state tournament, both the Polson Lady Pirates and Ronan Maidens volleyball teams are looking to continue that success this season. To prepare themselves for another state tournament run, the Lady Pirates and Maidens began the new season with the Southwestern/Northwestern A Tip Off tournament in Hamilton this past weekend.

On Friday, Polson finished first in the Northwestern pool that put them in the championship game in the seeded tournament on Saturday, while the Maidens placed third in pool play.

Throughout the tournament, both squads played against many teams they will face this season.

Polson finished with a 9-5 overall record in the pool matches, defeating Stevensville (25-18, 25-21), Frenchtown (25-18, 25-15), and East Helena (25-23, 25-15). The Lady Pirates split games with Dillon (25-8, 17-25), Butte Central (20-25, 25-14), and Hamilton (25-13, 23-25). Corvallis prevailed over the Lady Pirates in two sets 25-18, 25-22.

Ronan finished pool play with an overall record of 6-8 after defeating Stevensville (25-23, 25-24) and East Helena (25-17, 25-21) along with splitting games with Corvallis (22-25, 25-14) and Frenchtown (25-24, 17-25). The Maidens were defeated by Hamilton (25-22, 25-11), Dillon (25-12, 25-14) and Butte Central (25-18, 25-24).

The Lady Pirates capped off the weekend with a second-place tourney finish falling to host Hamilton 25-22, 22-25, 15-10; while Ronan finished fifth with a 25-18, 25-13 loss to Dillon.