BOZEMAN — A Class C volleyball state championship is coming back to McCone County. The occasion quite literally couldn't have gone more perfectly. Circle won its third state title in program history with a four-set triumph over Gardiner in Saturday's state championship match inside Brick Breeden Fieldhouse, meaning in the process that the Wildcats won the title with an unblemished 30-0 record.
The runner-up Bruins swept White Sulphur Springs in the morning's third-place match to set up the unbeaten semifinal rematch with Circle. White Sulphur Springs earned the third-place trophy. McKinna Yerbich was in her players' shoes nine years ago.
The last time that the Wildcats, who she now coaches, won the Class C state championship, she played for that team with the court configuration on the Brick Breeden floor — east-central — matching its location at this weekend's state tournament. Maybe Circle's third state championship was destined to happen all weekend, then. But the Wildcats doing it in the way that they did — in perfect fashion — made the occasion even more momentous.
Emma Murphy, Madeline Moline and Kate Nasner all had 12 kills each for Circle as it defeated Gardiner for the second time in as many days — this time by a 27-25, 19-25, 2518, 25-17 margin — to bring home the program's first volleyball state championship since 2015. The Wildcats with the win became the only team in Montana high school volleyball this season, regardless of class, to capture a state.