Blue Pony spikers get court time in Great Falls

It is no accident that the Electric City Classic volleyball tournament has grown into one of the toughest prep volleyball tournaments on a lot of teams’ schedules.

This weekend, the Havre High volleyball team got a reminder of just how tough the Great Falls tournament can be.

Friday and Saturday, the Central A Blue Ponies were in Great Falls, facing a lot of tough teams. The Ponies got plenty of playing time, as they played seven matches in pool play Friday as well as two more matches in Saturday’s consolation bracket.

In pool play, Great Falls High defeated the Ponies 20-13 and 20-10, Billings West defeated the Ponies 20-9 and 20-9, Helena defeated the Ponies 20-13 and 20-10, Senior defeated the Ponies 20-10 and 20-5 and Flathead defeated the Ponies 20-5 and 20-12. But the Ponies split with Big Sky, losing 20-15 but winning 20-18, while also splitting with Butte, winning 20-13 but losing 20-7. In the consolation bracket Saturday, Helena Capital defeated the Ponies 25-20 and 25-17, while it took Missoula Hellgate three games to get the match win. Hellgate won by scores of 25-13 and 25-21, but the Ponies earned a win in game two by a score of 27-25.

“We played a lot of really good teams this weekend,” Havre High head coach Melanie Skoyen said. “But we got better as the day went on and that is what we set out to do. It was great to get this experience for the girls. Our defense played solid, and our blockers did a good job closing and penetrating the net. It was good to get this experience and to get this confidence for our defense. We fought hard this weekend to make teams earn their points, but we still have a lot to work on.”

On the weekend as a whole, the Ponies did some good things, as well as continued to make mistakes.

The defense really stepped up, and it showed with their spacing of the floor and communication. The defense played smart volleyball, and really took care of the ball on broken plays said coach Skoyen. But something that the Ponies need to work on moving forward is their serving. Serving errors plagued the Ponies once again, and really knocked them out of some matches over the weekend.

“That is unacceptable,” Skoyen said. “I understand that we are serving tougher and we are getting more aces, but that still isn’t a good excuse, and we should be making our serves at this level. But this was good for the girls just watching other teams. We saw teams who play very well together and communicated very well. We learned a lot just by getting to watch other teams.”

After the weekend, the Ponies remain 1-2 in the conference, but sit at 1-4 overall. The only two matches that went against the Ponies’ record were Saturday’s bracket matches.

And while HHS got one game win during the five games played in the two matches Saturday, they put up solid statistics.

Facing Capital, the Ponies had 11 assists, two aces, 16 kills, 46 digs and five blocks. Dani Wagner helped led the way with six assists and one ace, while Ellery Bresler had five assists. Breck Don had the other ace, and Lacey Waid led the way with four kills and 10 digs. Martha Stocker and Aubrea Worm had three kills each, while Stocker had two blocks. Tatiana Ralph pitche din 10 digs and Jucinta Finneman added one block. And against Hellgate, the Ponies had 21 assists, six aces, 66 digs, 26 kills and seven blocks. Wagner led the way with 14 assists, while Stocker led the way with three aces. Waid had 13 digs, with Ralph adding 11, while Work led the team with seven kills. Stocker, Don, and Finneman also had five kills each.

The Ponies will remain on the road with two more matches coming up. Saturday the Ponies will be in Lewstown, taking on Eastern A foes Hardin and Laurel.

Electric City Classic

FRIDAY

Great Falls def. Havre 20-13, 20-10

West def. Havre 20-9, 20-9

Havre split with Big Sky 15-20, 20-18

Helena def. Havre 20-13, 20-10

Havre split with Butte 20-13, 7-20

Senior def. Havre 20-10, 20-5

Flathead def. Havre 20-5, 20-12

SATURDAY

Helena Capital def. Havre

25-20, 25-17

Havre – Assists 11 (Dani Wagner 6, Ellery Bresler 5); Aces 2 (Breck Don 1, Dani Wagner 1); Kills 16 (Lacey Waid 4, Martha Stocker 3, Aubrea Worm 3); Digs 4 (Lacey Waid 10, Tatiana Ralph 10); Blocks 5 (Martha Stocker 2, Jucenta Finneman 1.5).

Missoula Hellgate def. Havre

25-13, 25-27, 25-21

Havre – Assists 21 (Dani Wagner 14, Ellery Bresler 5); Aces 6 (Martha Stocker 3, Dani Wagner 2); Digs 66 (Lacey Waid 13, Tatiana Ralph 11); Blocks 26 (Aubrea Worm 7, Martha Stocker 5, Breck Don 5, Jucenta Finneman 5); Blocks 7 (Jucenta Finneman 2.5, Martha Stocker 2).