The Lady Hawk Volleyball season came to an end at the Class C Eastern Divisional Tournament in Culbertson, last Friday.

Broadus went into the tournament with bright hopes as the undefeated Number 1 seed from the 2C District Tournament. The bus took off with the team on Wednesday afternoon, with the customary fire truck and garbage truck escort out of town. The Broadus Cheerleaders stretched a banner across the road at the four way intersection with the highway, which the bus zoomed through as it carried the team to northeast Montana.

The team arrived at their lodging in Sidney on Wednesday night then proceeded the 36 miles to Culbertson on Thursday. In their first match in Culbertson on Thursday, Broadus was pitted against Savage, the 4 seed from the 1C district.

"We played fairly well against Savage, though we had some trouble with our passing," Broadus Coach Gordon Archer commented on the match, during a Monday interview.

"The troubles with passing didn't help our hitting," he added.

Broadus won the first set 25-18, but had some troubles in the second set and found themselves in a sizeable deficit. Despite the issues for Broadus, the team was able to come back and win the second, 27-25. In the third set Broadus went up 11-0 as a result of Lauryn Billing's stellar serving. The entire team served well in the match, serving 91.8% as a team.

Broadus would win that set 25-13 to take the match and advance to the second round on Thursday evening, where they faced North Country, the number 2 seed from the 1C district.

"North Country had an outstanding hitter we had trouble with early, but as the match progressed we caught on and were able to block her hits," Archer noted.

North Country, a team consisting of a co-op of Saco, Whitewater, and Hinsdale on the Hi-Line, was able to take the first set over Broadus 25-23, but Broadus answered right back to win the second 25-19. This back and forth continued throughout the match as one team gained an advantage every set. North Country won the third 25-17, Broadus the fourth 25-13, and then it all came down to the fifth set, where North Country was able find a way to win.

North Country won the fifth set 15-7, handing the Lady Hawks their first loss of the season and making for a much tougher path to State for Broadus, as they'd now have to win three more matches in order to make the championship and become one of the two teams from the division to advance to State.

On Friday afternoon Broadus played in their next match, this time against Plentywood.

"They were no pushovers," Coach Archer said of the Plentywood team. Additionally, Archer was a bit concerned how his team would respond coming off their first loss, but the Lady Hawks handled it well, winning the first two sets 25-21 and 25-14, before dropping the third 14-25, and responding with another 25-14 to win and advance.

In the Plentywood match, Broadus' serving was once again solid, with a 94.3% serve rate, one of the highest of the year for the team.

That win put Broadus up against Froid-Medicine Lake, the top seed from the 1C going into the tournament.

Broadus came out playing tough, pulling out a nail biter first set 27-25, and winning the second set more easily, 25-18.

"We may have won the second set too easily, as we didn't seem to have that intensity in the third," Archer said. Broadus fell in a very close set in the third 24-26, and then continued to falter as Froid-Lake, as they are commonly known, found an answer to Zeason Schaffer's tough hitting, which no teams have really shut down all year. Broadus once again lost in the fourth set 20-25, and then again in the fifth and final set, 11-15, to put an end to the Lady Hawk season.

"We came up a little short," Archer commented on the heartbreaking loss.

North Country would go on to defeat Froid-Lake in five sets, and Circle would defeat North Country in three straight sets in the championship.

The Circle Lady Wildcats, which Broadus beat 6 times over the course of the season, advance to State as the #1 seed from the east. They will face Chinook, the number 2 team from the north, at the State tournament first round, this Thursday in Bozeman.

North Country advances as the #2 seed from the east. They will face Belt, the number 1 team from the north, on Thursday.

Also playing at State are Manhattan Christian, Roy-Winifred, Bridger, and Twin Bridges.

With the Lady Hawks' season drawing to a close, so goes the high school volleyball careers of three talented seniors – Lauryn Billing, Lucinda Cain, and Oliveah Schaffer.

"These three were the first players I've coached for five years," Archer noted. When Billing, Cain, and Schaffer were 8th graders they played high school volleyball, as at the time the Broadus program was lacking in player numbers in the older grades.

Gordon continued: "These girls were absolutely vital in bringing back the program and it's sad to see them go."

With the graduation of the seniors comes another loss to the program, as Coach Archer retires after ten years as head coach of the Lady Hawks. During his tenure he took the Lady Hawks to State, had two undefeated regular seasons, and helped mentor a number of players, including girls who would go on to successful college volleyball careers, and others who took his lessons forward into many other walks of life.

The ever humble Archer didn’t dwell long on his coaching, nor did he mention his accolades, but instead thanked his coaching staff and family for all their help.

“I’d like to thank Monica Smith, my assistant coach. I know the program is in good hands with her as they move forward. I’d also like to thank my daughter, Missy, for all her hard work. She does so much behind the scenes to help me out. Special thanks to my wife, Deb, for keeping the books, and to Waylon Billing for filming all the games. Additionally, I’d like to thank Aiden Kenelly for announcing our games this season.”

With the 2022 season now behind us, a healthy crop of 8th graders look to move into the program next season, and a strong core of players will return.

Archer concluded: “The volleyball program looks strong going forward.”