After a late-season surge propelled them into the District 14C finals, which in turn sent them to the Western Division finals as the No. 2 seed volleyball team from the district, the Hot Springs Lady Heat ran into a buzzsaw in the form of teams waiting to take them on.

As a result, Hot Springs lost their first two matches, one against Twin Bridges (3-0) and the other by a similar score to Drummond, closing out their divisional experience and ending a successful season in the process.

The Heat opened divisional play against powerful Twin Bridges, the eventual tournament runner-up and number two seed to the upcoming State Class C Finals in Bozeman, by falling behind 25-12 in the first set of their match at the Manhattan Christian gym in Churchill, MT.

Twin Bridges, which lost the Divisional title match to Manhattan Christian, added to their lead in the second set with a commanding 25-8 win, to take a 2-0 match lead.

The tall and experienced Lady Falcons were simply too much for Hot Springs as they fell 25-16 in the third and deciding set, which gave Twin Bridges a 3-0 match sweep.

Junior Brooke Jackson had a solid match for Hot Springs, recording seven assists and nine digs for the Heat. Sophomore Kara Christensen also had a good match for Hot Springs, picking up four kills and three blocks against the Falcons.

Twin Bridges got an outstanding effort from senior Ellianna Meek, who had a match best 18 assists and 13 digs, along with five service aces for the Lady Falcons. Teammate Kinsey Johnson had 10 digs and three aces in the Twin Bridges win.

Hot Springs, which had engaged in a marathon District final series against eventual 14C winner Charlo the week before, then took on Drummond in a consolation round game this past Friday. Again, Hot Springs fell behind early, losing the opening set 25-10 to give the Lady Trojans a 1-0 match advantage. Drummond kept up the pressure with 25-11 wins in both the next two sets on their way to a 3-0 sweep that knocked Hot Springs from the tournament.

In the match versus Drummond, Hot Springs senior Georgia Uski had an outstanding effort, racking up 13 kills, 12 assists, 20 digs and two blocked shots. Jackson added 12 assists to the Hot Springs effort.

Drummond was led by Delaney Wagner, who had match highs in aces (10), kills (23) and digs (29), along with two blocks for the winners. Fellow Trojan Kimber Parsons had nine assists, one block and six digs for the Lady Falcons, while teammate Bailey Parker chipped in 11 kills, six digs and one block as Drummond dominated front line play.

The losses left Hot Springs with an 11-9 overall record for the 2023 season.

The District’s number three seed, Noxon, was eliminated prior to the Divisional event when they fell to Valley Christian in a play-in challenge game last Monday night in Alberton.

And the District 14C regular season and District tournament champion Charlo Vikings, did not fare much better. The Lady Vikes opened Divisional play with a tough 3-2 loss to Philipsburg, then beat Valley Christian 3-1 in the consolation round before falling to White Sulphur Springs 3-2 and being eliminated from the tournament.

Charlo finished their season with a 14-6 overall record, including an 8-0 run in regular season 14C play.