BOZEMAN — Day 2 of the Montana all-class state volleyball tournaments is underway, and the fields are narrowing. Loser-out play continues this afternoon, and three teams will remain by the end of the night still in the hunt for a championship.
The main event starts at 6 p.m.: undefeated semifinals across all four classifications. Winners advance to Saturday's championship matches. We'll have live coverage of those semifinal showdowns.
We'll update this post throughout the day.
** Updated brackets and results: 2025 all-class state volleyball scores and pairings **
Photos: Day 2 of the all-class state volleyball tournaments
Photos: Day 1 of the 2025 all-class state volleyball tournaments
Visit our Day 1 blog here.
The most recent updates will appear at the top. Refresh regularly to follow along.
— Slim Kimmel, Alec Bofinger, Mike Scherting
10:24 p.m. | Class C fourth-place match
Familiar foes Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine and Melstone closed down the arena, with D-G-S-G coming out on top in four sets.
This was the eighth meeting of the season between the District 7C foes. D-G-S-G won six of the eight, and this final victory ensures the Bearcats of a tournament trophy. Melstone finishes the tournament in fourth place.
D-G-S-G will play Belt Friday morning at 10 a.m. in the third-place match, with the winner advancing to the championship.
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9:52 p.m. | Class AA fourth-place match
Great Falls CMR took down Billings Senior 25-21, 25-23, 22-25, 25-21 to relegate the Broncs to fourth place. CMR, meanwhile, sticks around and will play Bozeman at 10 a.m. on Friday, with the winner getting a shot at Eastern AA rival Gallatin for the championship.
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9:30 p.m. | Fourth-place matches
Two fourth-place matches have wrapped up to this point.
In Class A, Havre swept Polson, meaning the Blue Ponies will take on Frenchtown Friday morning for the right to play Billings Central in Friday's championship. Polson finishes fourth.
Shepherd defeated Baker in four sets to stay alive in the Class B title hunt. The Fillies play Jefferson Friday morning, and the winner advances to the championship against Townsend.
Class AA and Class C fourth-place matches are still in progress.
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9:09 p.m. | Photo update
We've uploaded photos from the undefeated semifinal matches and a few of Thursday's loser-out matches. View the gallery here.
8:40 p.m. | Class C undefeated semifinal
Circle wants to ensure teams from eastern Montana get the attention they deserve. The Wildcats did their part Thursday, rallying for an incredible 22-25, 27-29, 25-22, 25-20, 16-14 win over Belt in the Class C undefeated semifinal.
"It’s the drive to win, it’s the drive to succeed, it’s the drive to be noticed — the east kind of gets forgotten about — and we’re not going to allow that," said Circle coach McKinna Yerbich.
The Wildcats were in an unusual position against Belt, having to play catch-up throughout the match. They were down two sets to zero but bounced back to win the next two sets to force a decisive fifth set.
Circle trailed for the bulk of the fifth, eventually rallying to tie it at 12 and then push past the Huskies down the stretch.
"I’ve got a bunch of girls that refuse to lose — that’s just plain and simple, they refuse to lose," Yerbich said. "I’ve got some veterans that were not going to take third place or a morning game for an answer, they were not going to allow that."
Kate Nasner put down 30 kills and Madeline Moline added 25 for the Wildcats, who are seeking their second consecutive state title in Friday's championship match — opponent TBD.
"We really just have to be ourselves, we have to stick to ourselves," Yerbich said. "When we stray away from what works for us is when we’re not successful, and so we’re going to keep hitting that ball, we’re going to keep playing scrappy, and we’re going to keep proving why we’re here to make our name known."
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8:09 p.m. | Class A undefeated semifinal
Been there, done that. For the Billings Central Rams, though, who earned their 10th straight trip to the championship match with a 25-16, 25-21, 23-25, 25-14 win over Frenchtown in the undefeated semifinals, it's not the same old feeling.
"Getting to play with the girls I've gotten to play with since seventh grade, I think that's a big part of it," senior Annika Stergar said. "We're all so committed this year. It is different, but it's so great to be back in this position again."
Stergar helped the Rams regain control after Frenchtown avoided a sweep with the third-set win. She had a strong serving run — she finished with a team-high five aces as the Rams had 14 overall — during the middle portion of the fourth set that helped keep Frenchtown off balance and put the match win within reach.
Yes, the Rams and Broncs have been here before. It was just last year that the Rams beat Frenchtown in the undefeated semifinal, but needed two championships and 10 sets to finally subdue the Broncs to claim their fourth title in five years.
Stergar, and the Rams, want to avoid a similar close call this time, with whomever advances to play against them.
"I think we know what we have to do, and we can do it," Stergar said.
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7:57 p.m. | Class B undefeated semifinal
The bracket says Townsend entered the state tournament as a four seed from the Southern B. On paper, that means an underdog.
The Bulldogs can wear that with a bit of inspiration. But do they really believe, after sweeping into Friday's state championship match, that they are an underdog? Well, maybe.
"I'm feeling so much excitement, coming (to state) as the underdogs," Townsend libero Emmalin Fischer said after her team's 27-25, 25-11, 26-24 win over Jefferson, their 5B rivals. "I just feel like we did so much over this weekend and we've worked so hard for it."
Townsend returns to the championship for the first time since 2023, when the Bulldogs fell short to Huntley Project. The last time they were crowned champion was 2008.
And to think, it was less than a week ago that Townsend was lamenting its fourth-place finish in the Southern B, even if it is the toughest division in Class B.
"We didn't play our best at divisionals," Fischer said, "but I know for sure we aren't a four seed. I mean ... I have no words for it. It's really fun to be the underdog."
Even Fischer seems to have to talk herself into believing that label.
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7:43 p.m. | Class AA undefeated semifinal
Gallatin is back in the Class AA championship match after earning a hard-fought sweep of crosstown rival Bozeman, 25-22, 26-24, 25-18.
The turning point of the match came in the second set. The Raptors trailed 24-20 but rallied for the 26-24 win with Katie Swanson holding serve. Kennedy Varda, who has committed to play collegiately at the University of Kentucky, was huge all match, registering 18 kills, seven blocks and two aces.
"We just focused on one point at a time," Varda set of the 6-0 run to win the second set. "Katie served great, amazing, so we just leaned in on each other and knew we could do it."
Gallatin will be gunning for its second straight championship Friday. The Raptors won the first title in program history last season.
"This senior class is the first class that came in with us, so we’ve had them for four years. Everybody’s kind of where we wanted them to be, and everybody just has really, really good leadership of these 10," Gallatin coach Erika Gustavsen said. "Our JV, sophomore and two freshman teams didn’t lose a match all year, and we lost one, so we’re really proud of the program that we’re building and really instilling that winning mentality.
"I think last year’s team, we finally got over the hump and got that first one and had some really good, good players, but this team collectively is a lot better in a lot of stat lines than last year, so it’s exciting for me to see that they really buy in, they want to get better, they work really hard, and they’re hungry. They’re a very competitive, hungry group, so it’s been really fun to coach them."
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6:57 p.m. | Class C
Set 2 between Circle and Belt was tight the entire way, with It finally ending 28-26 in Belt's favor. With a 2-0 lead the Huskies might have defending champs on the ropes
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6:45 p.m. | Class B
Townsend apparently came to play tonight. After squeezing by Jefferson 26-24 in the first set, Bulldogs closing in on the second with a 23-11 lead.
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6:40 p.m. | Class AA
Gallatin wrested control of the first set in the latter stages and trying to take over the second. Bozeman trails just 9-7 but Gallatin is on a mini-run so Hawks coach Devin Dynan takes a timeout
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6:20 p.m. | Class A
Billings Central and Frenchtown both had some early miscues. Nerves, perhaps? These teams met in the semis and championship last year, after all. But the Rams serving has been stronger and they appear to have settled in quicker, taking an 18-11 lead in first set.
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5:45 p.m. | Semifinal matchups
Coming up at 6 p.m. are the undefeated semifinals. The winners of these matches get the inside track come championship Friday — due to the tournament's double-elimination format, semifinal winners have to be defeated in two championship matches.
Semifinals pairings
Class AA: Gallatin vs. Bozeman
Class A: Billings Central vs. Frenchtown
Class B: Townsend vs. Jefferson
Class C: Circle vs. Belt
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5:15 p.m. | 4 p.m. window results
All four matches in this time window ended in sweeps, with Billings Senior taking down Kalispell Glacier in AA, Havre topping Hamilton in Class A, Shepherd dispatching Choteau in B, and Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine defeating Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale in C.
That means only Eastern teams remain in AA and only Southern teams in B. As for D-G-S-G's win, the Bearcats play Melstone at 8 p.m. in the final elimination match of the day. Those teams have met seven times this season, with D-G-S-G winning five of them.
Glacier's loss also means the Western AA will go home without a state-tournament trophy for the fifth consecutive year. The division's last trophy came in 2020 when Helena Capital won it all.
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5:05 p.m. | Class A
If neither player were on the floor at that moment, Hamilton eighth-grader Rey Gum and freshman Morgan Lubke had a unique spin on how to celebrate Broncs points against Havre. Lubke would jump on Gum's back, and Gum would spin around a couple times while the other Broncs cheered on their teammates.
Hamilton has to hope Gum has several more spins left. Havre has taken a 2-0 lead in sets.
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4:40 p.m. | Class AA | Class B | Class C
Billings Senior making quick work of Kalispell Glacier. Broncs need slightly more than 30 minutes to take a 2-0 lead. A Glacier loss would celibate the final Western AA team.
Shepherd is doing the same to Choteau on the B court.
And over on the Class C court, Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine is trying to sweep Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale, too.
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4:30 p.m. | Class A
Havre and Hamilton are off to a high- intensity start. Havre holds off four set points and wins the first set 32-30 on an Ari Gary kill from a quick set.
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4:00 p.m. | Stats watch
Baker senior Madison O'Connor had 20 kills in the Spartans' win over Florence earlier today. Combined with her 79 kills on Wednesday — which included a 49-kill effort in a five-set loss to Jefferson — O'Connor has 99 kills in three matches. She's averaging 8.25 kills per set so far.
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3:55 p.m. | Class C loser out
Melstone rallied to come from behind and defeat Chester-Joplin-Inverness in five sets, with the deciding set going 15-11 in the Broncs' favor. After C-J-I took a 2-1 lead in sets, Melstone rebounded to keep its hopes alive.
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3:45 p.m. | Quick hit scores
Class AA: Great Falls CMR def. Missoula Hellgate 25-17, 25-22, 25-8
Class A: Polson def. Laurel 25-10, 25-19, 21-25, 25-16
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3:25 p.m. | Class B loser out
Baker swept past Florence to advance to the evening fourth-place match. Baker's advancement means the Southern B has a shot to have the final four teams standing. With Jefferson and Townsend playing in the undefeated semifinal tonight, a win by Shepherd against Choteau in the next Class B match would leave only teams from the South still competing.
2:50 p.m. | Class C loser out
After splitting the first two sets, Chester-Joplin-Inverness scored the first nine points of set three.
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2:35 p.m. | Class AA loser out
Patrick Hiller coached Great Falls CMR to the 2021 state title but after taking some time off he landed at Missoula Hellgate. He's coaching against his former program in this one. Hellgate is within striking reach in the second set after CMR took the first.
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2:20 p.m. | Class A loser out
Polson is off to a solid start against Laurel. The Pirates claim the first set 25-10. Pirates libero Aleysia Black had multiple lunging digs to set up set point.
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2 p.m. | Class AA loser out
Kalispell Glacier's block proved pivotal down the stretch as the Wolfpack outlasted Missoula Sentinel 3-2. Glacier's Allie Krueger and Madi Stevens helped put up the stone wall at the net during the final moments, and Marlo Carpenter finished with five blocks for the match. Glacier's next match is against Billings Senior at 4 p.m.
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1:40 p.m. | Class B loser out
Choteau does hold off Anaconda in the fourth set for the 3-1 win. Choteau advances to play Shepherd in a battle of No. 1 seeds; Choteau won the North last week, while Shepherd took the South. One of these teams will be going home, however, after their 4 p.m. match.
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1:30 p.m. | Class A loser out
Amaya Jarvis with three straight kills lights spark to get Havre past Miles City. After trailing late in fourth set, the Blue Ponies rally to win 3-1 as Jarvis finished with 23 kills.
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1:20 p.m. | Class B loser out
Anaconda was in danger of being swept by Choteau, but the Copperheads won set three and are hanging around in set four.
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1:05 p.m. | Class C loser out
Gardiner was last year's Class C runner-up, but the Bruins were eliminated in two matches this season. Saco-Whitewater-Hinsdale swept Gardiner and advanced to play Denton-Geyser-Stanford-Geraldine. Next up on the C court is Chester-Joplin-Inverness against Melstone in another loser-out contest.
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12:15 p.m. | Loser-out updates
The morning matches are in the books:
Class AA: Missoula Hellgate def. Helena 25-18, 27-25, 29-27.
Class A: Laurel def. Dillon 22-25, 25-23, 31-29, 25-13.
Class B: Florence def. Fairfield 25-14, 25-18, 25-11.
Class C: Chester-Joplin-Inverness def. Manhattan Christian 23-25, 25-17, 15-25, 25-13, 15-3.
