Blue Pony spikers move to another big tourney

Every year the Havre High volleyball team plays in some of the state’s top volleyball tournaments, and heading into only the third weekend of their season, the Blue Ponies will travel to one of those notoriously tough tournaments in Great Falls.

Friday and Saturday, the Central A Ponies, 1-2 in the conference, will travel to Great Falls for the Electric City Classic.

Havre High is a young and inexperienced team, even with six seniors, and a trip to the Electric City Classic could do wonders for their growing process. After a rough weekend last week, Ponies’ head coach Melanie Skoyen stated that the Ponies need as many matches as they can get right now. The Ponies have several returning players to the team, but only two that were starters for the varsity a year ago.

The youthfulness of the Ponies has already been exposed in just three conference matches and a handful of tournament matches.

The emphasis of improvement has expanded from serve-receive to the Ponies serve as well as their costly errors. Those areas of concern have made it very hard for the Ponies to remain competitive, keeping the Ponies out of the win column since the season debut in Browning. But with plenty of matches on the menu for this weekend, HHS will have ample time to work and improve before getting back into conference play.

If the Blue Ponies can serve teams tough, it will knock their offense off kilter and keep the opposing hitters from swinging away on the Ponies. And if the Ponies can step up their serve receive, it will get their own offense rolling, and allow Dani Wagner to set to talented hitters like Breck Don, Aubrea Worm, Martha Stocker and Lacey Waid. Coach Skoyen also noted that her young squad can’t help out the opposing team by unforced errors, a common struggle for young or inexperienced teams.

Last season the Ponies got nine matches at the Electric City Classic, but they also found a lot of success, coming one match away from the championship match. If the Ponies find a way to win this year, they will get a similar number of matches, something HHS would love to get at this point in the season.

Last year the Ponies beat Billings West, Big Sky, Helena and Butte High, while losing to teams like Great Falls High, Billings Senior, and Flathead in pool play. In bracket play the Ponies also beat Helena Capital, but lost to Skyview and Glacier. Facing tough teams again in pool play and tournament play will be beneficial for the Ponies, win or lose.

Friday and Saturday the Central A Ponies will travel to Great Falls for the Electric City Classic.