BOZEMAN — Great Falls CMR's championship hopes looked bleak Friday morning.
The Rustlers had lost their first-round match to Missoula Hellgate on Thursday, which was the first opening-round win for the Western AA since 2020. CMR, though, battled all the way back through the consolation bracket and defeated two-time reigning State AA champion Gallatin twice Saturday to claim the 2026 crown at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse.
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"It was insane. We did not open the tournament well, obviously," CMR head coach Danielle Woods said. "I literally just said, 'If anyone can do it, it's this crew.' ... By the time this part of the season came we had already connected again and figured everything out. I knew they could do it, it was just them believing in themselves."
CMR jumped on Gallatin in the opening championship match, eventually taking a 2-0 lead before the Raptors fought back to force a fifth set. The Rustlers, though, claimed the first championship match 25-16, 26-24, 24-26, 23-25, 15-11.
It was almost a near carbon copy in the second championship match, as CMR bolted out to a 2-0 lead before the Raptors had dominant third- and fourth-set victories. But the Rustlers, nearly running on fumes, burned the last bit of gas in their tank to win the fifth and final set. CMR won the final match 25-18, 25-23, 10-25, 11-25, 15-12.
"Set 3 and 4, I kind of saw that coming. We were gassed, we were tired," Woods said. "I just said, 'Hey, 15 points, that's all that's standing between you and a state title right now, is 15 points.'"
Tayah Osier and Felicity Young racked up nearly 20 kills apiece in both championship matches to ho help lead CMR back to the top of Class AA.
