Pony spikers finish third at Windy City

It took a little longer than usual, but the first game-action of the season finally arrived for the Havre High volleyball team this weekend. And despite some mixed results, it was a promising start.

The Blue Ponies started their busy opening weekend in Belgrade with a pair of Central A Conference matchups against Belgrade and Livingston.

In the opening match against Belgrade, the Panthers flexed their muscle, dispatching HHS in three straight games, 25-12, 25-6 and 25-14. Then, the Ponies capped off the night against Livingston, falling to their Central A rivals in four games, 25-14, 23-25, 25-17 and 25-20.

Saturday, the Ponies traveled to Livingston to participate in the annual Windy City Classic, which featured 11 volleyball teams from different classifications. In a strong outing, the Ponies rebounded from a less than stellar performance in pool play to defeat Three Forks 25-20, then Bridger 25-13 to earn a spot in the tournament semifinals.

Yet, in the semifinals, the Ponies' run was stopped by Gardiner, which knocked off HHS in the best-of-three match by winning the first two games 25-12 and 25-22.

"Overall I thought the girls played really well," HHS head coach Melanie Skoyen said. "I was really excited with how we played, especially in the tournament on Saturday. Making it to the semi-finals is the best that we have done in quite a while."

While, the Ponies got in a number of matches Saturday, the only ones that will officially count were Friday's, leaving HHS 0-2 overall and in Central A play to start the season.

"I think even just this weekend we improved a lot of things," Skoyen said. "We had a really hard time getting our digs and we did fix it eventually but it was a little too late. So that is something that we need to improve on and we are an athletic team so once we get that fixed we should be able to play pretty good defense. But they worked very hard and even though we didn't win those games, we made Belgrade and Livingston work for every point."

Friday against Belgrade, the Ponies were led in a losing effort by Reggie Bernard, who finished with five kills and 1.5 blocks. Jordyn Warren also had a solid performance, leading HHS with nine digs. Dani Wagner also contributed with four digs and four assists, while Megan Erickson had a pair of kills.

Against Livingston, Wagner had a stellar outing with a game-high 12 kills to go along with five assists. Warren added 24 digs and Carlene Rennick contributed two aces.

"Dani Wagner did a phenomenal job," Skoyen said. "Our serve-receive wasn't bad but even when our passes weren't right there, she did a really job good of squaring up and setting. Jordyn Warren was also all over the place. She worked really hard on serve receive and hit the floor a lot. She worked really hard for our defense."

Despite the fact that the Ponies' conference schedule got off to a rough start, HHS showed great improvement over the course of the weekend and with some talented, young players, the Ponies should only get better with each match they play.

"I think that this team has so much potential," Skoyen said. "They played so well together and were so fun to coach this weekend because of their attitudes and how had they worked. I just think that we really need more games to get better and prepare us for tournament time and even for our conference matches later in the season.

"We really just need to talk more and get more familiar with each other," She added. "We have to get a little better habits and just learn to trust each other more, which will come the more we play. Overall, I thought it was a good weekend and we learned a lot."

The Ponies will get plenty of action under their belt this week as they play host to Conrad at the HHS gymnasium Thursday night. Then they will head to Great Falls where they will compete in the Electric City Classic Friday and Saturday.

Begrade def. Havre

25-12, 25-6, 25-14

Havre: Kills 7 (Reggie Bernard 5, Megan Erickson 2), Digs 20 (Jordan Warren 9, Dani Wagner 4), Blocks 3 (Bernard 1.5), Assists 6 (Wagner 4, Naomi Ferry 2)

Belgrade: Kills 39 (Kylie McCree 16), Digs 33 (Kyra Fisher 7, Hannah Govlet 6, Kylie McCree 6), Blocks 5 (Maddi Orrell 2), Aces 13 (Jamie Woolman 6), Assists: 36 (Olivia Kleinsasser 34)

Livingston def. Havre

25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 25-20

Havre leaders – Kills 21 (Dani Wagner 12); assists 15 (Dani Wagner 5); aces 7 (Carlene Rennsick 2); digs 38 (Jordan Warren 24); blocks 0.

Livingston leaders – Kills 36 (Sierra Higgs 11); assists 20 (Emily Cornell 19); aces 13 (Andrea Fairchild 4); digs 48 (Hailey Peterson 19); blocks 6 (Emily Cornell 2, Sierra Higgs 2).