In a rematch of last year’s state championship volleyball game, Joliet upset Huntley Project three sets to two, ending a 101-game winning streak for the Lady Red Devils. After giving up the first set to Joliet, Huntley took the next two sets, but the J-Hawks won the fourth set, forcing a tiebreaker. Joliet won the final set 15-12. Last year’s championship game also went to five sets with Huntley Project winning their twelfth state championship.
The Joliet J-Hawks were certainly familiar with the Lady Red Devils, with five returning players from last year’s team. In an interview with YCN Sports, Colette Webber, head coach for the Joliet J-Hawks had nothing but praise for Iona Stookey, head coach of the Lady Red Devils after competing against her for fourteen years. “Iona is the reason that I started clubs eleven years ago. I knew that if I wanted to beat her at her level, I had to do what she did. I have been copying her for years.”
Coach Webber certainly has great reason to emulate Stookey. In her 30-year coaching career, Iona Stookey has taken her team to the state championship tournament more than twenty times, resulting in twelve championships, two second-place trophies, and five third-place trophies. In 2017, Stookey was inducted to the Montana Coaches Association Hall of Fame, and she has been nominated five times as the National Coach of the Year.
Huntley Project is scheduled to play Joliet again in a month on Thursday, October 1 as part of the homecoming festivities. YCN Sports, an extension of Yellowstone County News, will continue to broadcast high school varsity sports events for Huntley Project High School as well as Shepherd High School. A link to all the archived games can be found on ycnsports.com. Games are broadcast live on KFHW 101.1 FM and streamed live at ycnsports.com.
