CMR heading to State with winning mentality

Tue., Nov. 12, 2019

Hailey Sutton SWX

Last week was a relief for the Rustlers. Not only did they get a straight bid into the state tournament, but they had an extra week to prepare for it This, coming from a program that barely clinched a state berth last season, and one that hasn’t been on the winning side in a few years. So what changed? “All of our programs finished up last weekend - we ended up being something like 62-9, which is a big deal as a program because all I talked about when I came to CMR was making sure that all the programs understood that we have expectations for everybody,” said head coach Patrick Hiller. “So, having the program go from what it was three years ago to what it is now is way above what I ever expected.” “Our IQ as a volleyball team has really gone up the past few years,” added senior middle Allie Olsen. “We’ve gotten really used to him moving us around into different spots and just needing what we need at the time of the game.” But this week comes the real test: 22-1 CMR heads to Bozeman as the one-seed out of the East, and will open the tournament on Thursday against Butte. Despite already taking down the Bulldogs once this season, Hiller said there’s still work to be done if they’re going to bring a championship back to Great Falls. “It’s gonna take a combination of three or four really good wins,” he said. “Our first round game is going to be against a team that we think we should compete really well against.” “We’re gonna have to overcome a lot of obstacles and play when the games are tight and probably play together even more than we have this whole season.” Hiller has been coaching in Montana for almost 30 years, and has yet to win a state title, but he said this week, that could change. “This has really been the truest chance of going into this with a feeling like there’s a bunch of teams out there we should beat, so yeah it’s a little bit different feeling for me all together.” You can find the full bracket for AA as well as our smaller schools at mhsa.org.

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