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Havre takes down its arch rival in a great match at the HHS gymnasium
Havre High's Dani Wagner, left, smashes a ball during Friday night's Central A match between the Blue Ponies and Lewistown Eagles at the HHS gymnasium.
The Havre High volleyball team huddles together during Friday night's win over Lewistown at the HHS gymnasium.
HHS's Samy Huston, left, goes for a kill during Friday night's match in Havre.
Havre High's Megan Erickson hits a serve during a match against Lewistown Friday night at the HHS gymnasium.
For five years, Lewistown has dominated Havre in volleyball. But on Friday night, the Blue Ponies put an end to the Eagles’ dominance, as HHS finally conquered its rival.
In front of a packed house inside the HHS gymnasium, the Ponies enacted some long-awaited revenge on the Eagles by notching a four-set victory, by the scores of 26-28, 27-25, 28-26 and 25-20.
The turning point of the hotly contested match came in the second and third sets. With the Ponies trailing 1-0 after losing the opening game 26-28, they faced a critical moment in the second set with the score 25-24 in favor of Lewistown.
Facing a 2-0 deficit, Havre didn’t back down and a kill from Paige Nelson tied the score at 25-25, before she clinched the game for Havre with another kill minutes later to win it for HHS and tie the match at one set a piece.
The two teams battled back and forth in the third set with Lewistown leading most of the way, thanks to a 5-0 run early in the set, but Havre recovered and eventually tied the score at 25-25. Havre then snagged the two-point victory thanks to back-to-back kills from Reggie Bernard, who had five in the set, and Ceyara Plante.
Leading 2-1 in the match, the Ponies looked to put the Eagles away after jumping out to a 20-9 lead. Yet, Lewistown battled back and got within four at 24-20 before an Eagle hitting error ended the match in Havre’s favor.
“It was a good feeling, I didn’t even know until after the match that it had been at least five years since they we have beaten Lewistown in our gym,” Tamecia Jarvis said, “so I was really happy for the girls. They played awesome and they worked really hard. The crowd was awesome and it was just a really great atmosphere and it was a lot of fun. The players really stayed together. They wanted to finish out those games.”
The Ponies were led by senior Dani Wagner, who had a massive night with 21 assists 13 kills and nine aces, which were all team highs. Bernard, who notched a number of important points, finished with a total of 11 kills to go along with a team-high three blocks. Megan Erickson also contributed with 10 kills in the win and Naomi Terry added 13 assists.
“It feels great, we all came together and we matured. All that we needed was confidence,” Wagner said of beating Lewistown. “We really tried to hit around their block, be confident and smart. I thought that we hustled a lot, too. We didn’t let any balls hit the floor.”
“It feels incredible,” Bernard said. “That’s the only thing that I can really say is that it feels incredible.”
After dispatching Lewistown, Havre didn’t have much time to enjoy its victory as it traveled to Choteau Saturday, the very next night to take on Class B rival Choteau. And even though the Ponies were riding high, the Bulldogs had no problem bringing them back down to earth with a four-set victory by the scores of 26-28, 25-22, 25-19 and 25-19.
“I am not sure what happened,” Jarvis said, “but it definitely wasn’t the same team that we saw on Friday against Lewistown.”
The Ponies started out well, taking the first game on the road 28-26. But after that, the Bulldogs put them away by sweeping the next three sets to cement the victory. Wagner had another stellar performance for HHS as she finished with 12 kills and 20 assists. Jacey McDonald also contributed with eight kills and 3.5 blocks.
The Ponies, who are now 4-3 overall and 2-1 in Central A conference play will be back on the court Thursday night when they travel to Great Falls to take on the Great Falls High Bison in non-conference action at 7 p.m. Havre will be back in the HHS gymnasium against Browning on Saturday night for homecoming. That match will begin around 5 p.m.
Havre def. Lewistown
26-28, 27-25, 28-26, 25-20
Havre – Kills 48 (Dani Wagner 13, Reggie Bernard 11, Megan Erickson 10); Assists 36 (Wagner 21, Naomi Terry 13); Blocks 8 (Bernard 3, Ceyara Plante 2); Aces 15 (Wagner 9, Madison Huebsch 2, Terry 2); Digs 106 (Bernard 19, Erickson 17, Huebsch 16).
Choteau def. Havre
26-28, 25-22, 25-19, 25-19
Havre – Kills 33 (Dani Wagner 12, Jacey McDonald 8); Blocks 12 (Reggie Bernard 3.5, Jacey McDonald2.5); Aces 10 (Naomi Terry 4, Samy Huston 4); Assists 20 (Wagner 9, Terry 9).
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