But Kola was a three-year runner-up before tearing her ACL as a senior. So, I come outside and see on Twitter like, 'State champs!' I’m getting messages and group chats and I’m like, that’s so exciting,” Kola recalled.Ĭourtney now owns state titles as both a coach and player at Senior. “So, it was super cool because in the moment at BYU - we upset them, we weren’t projected to win - and there’s no service in the locker room, ever. Kola remembers watching Courtney coach in last year’s roller coaster state title match - or at least trying - on a Bobcats basketball trip. “I did jump in for one practice in August and that was kind of fun… to go block them.” Kola actually got to prove it to the high school players for a hot minute in the preseason. I didn’t just play volleyball, but I was kind of good at it,” she said laughing. ![]() I’m like, I used to play (volleyball), I promise. ![]() “They all look at me like, you play college basketball. They didn’t realize how explosive her volleyball skills once were. Somewhat comically on the volleyball front, a lot of Senior’s current players first pictured Kola only as a basketball star. "I know I believe it, and I’m sure the girls do, seeing us finishing toward the end of March maybe pushing up for April.”Ī run that deep would mean a trip to the Elite 8 and contending for a national title. “Honestly, I know we all see us making it far (this) postseason in March," Kola told MTN Sports in a quiet locker room. Kola's return home marks her final year of eligibility and she is already creating a stronger presence for a Yellowjacket team picked by coaches to win the Great Northwest Athletic Conference. She’s back in town hooping for Montana State Billings after four years of basketball at Montana State. Kola is still playing college ball, just not volleyball. “She relates to them because she’s still playing right now,” Courtney added. “If they need help with drills, I’ll just toss a couple free balls or just give them some down balls.” ![]() “I’m kind of like the hype man,” Kola said with a smile. “All the extra toughness that I put on them and all the pressure I put on them … it paid off because we were built to last."įast forward to this season when another highlight arrived for Courtney as she talked Kola into joining her on the bench as a part-time assistant. “We played for seven hours straight on (that) Saturday," Courtney recalled. It was a move that instantly paid off with a heart-stopping State AA title win in 2022 as the Broncs rallied for a marathon five-set victory over crosstown rival Billings West. ![]() Ultimately, the Billings Senior graduate was hired. I think it was one of the first times I was really nervous,” she said. "I asked all the right coaches all the right questions."Ĭourtney applied for the Broncs' head coaching job, then sweated it out. “I had as much experience as I could at the time," Courtney said of being prepared for the moment. Only 22 years old at the time, she approached then Broncs' activities director Mark Susler wondering how she could avoid being overlooked. “I didn’t want to be overlooked because of how young I was,” Courtney explained to MTN Sports while overseeing a fall practice. She’s Senior’s head volleyball coach, hired only a year ago when the Broncs took a chance on youth. Among the three, Kola and Courtney are still athletically excelling - both together and apart.Ĭourtney still very much bleeds orange. BILLINGS - The gymnasium at Billings Senior is where high school excellence started for the Bad Bear sisters.
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