Lady Pirates battle to third place at Western A Divisional, earn trip to state
BRANDON HANSEN For the Leader | Lake County Leader | UPDATED 3 weeks, 1 day AGO
Lady Pirate Mckenna Corley pushes the ball over the net towards the Ronan Maidens during their varsity game on Oct. 7. The Pirates took third during the 2025 Class A divisional volleyball in Libby. (Bob Gunderson Photo)
The Polson Lady Pirates are bound for the Class A State Volleyball Tournament after a strong showing at the Western A Divisional last weekend in Libby. The team battled through a tough bracket to claim third place and secure Western A’s final berth at state.
Polson opened the tournament with authority, sweeping Dillon 25-19, 25-18, 25-19 in Thursday’s opener. The win set up was a second-round matchup against Frenchtown, the top seed from the Southwest and one of the state’s premier programs. The Lady Pirates competed hard, but fell 25-22, 25-15, 25-18, sending them into the consolation bracket.
Refusing to back down, Polson rebounded with a gritty 3-1 victory over Columbia Falls in a Northwest Division rematch. The Lady Pirates took the first two sets 25-23 and 25-22 before dropping the third 13-25, then closed out the win 25-17 to stay alive.
That set up a rematch with Dillon in the fourth-place match Friday evening. Once again, Polson came out on top, defeating the Lady Beavers 25-16, 25-16, 20-25, 25-21 to advance to Saturday’s third-place match against Hamilton.
The Lady Pirates pushed the Lady Broncs, but ultimately fell 25-15, 25-23, 25-20, finishing third overall. Frenchtown would go on to win the divisional championship with a sweep of Hamilton in the final.
With the result, Polson (15-4) advances to the Class A State Tournament as the No. 3 Western seed. The Lady Pirates are slated to face the Eastern No. 2 representative, the Havre Blue Ponies, in their opening-round match.
The Lady Pirates will now turn their attention to the State A Tournament, where they’ll look to make some noise against the best in Montana.