The Time of Their Lives

Every senior class wants to leave a lasting impression when it comes to the sports it plays. And this year, the seniors on the Havre High volleyball team have done exactly that.

It hasn't always been easy for Dani Wagner, Reggie Bernard, Kaitlin Nystrom, Madison Huebsch and Megan Erickson, the five seniors of the Blue Pony volleyball team, but in the end, their hard work and dedication paid off and their dream of playing in a state tournament has become a reality.

Last weekend, at the Eastern A Divisional, the Ponies, led by this year's senior class, clinched their first state tournament berth in eight years and when HHS steps onto the floor today at Brick Breeden Fieldhouse in Bozeman against Butte Central, it will be Havre's first appearance at state since 2007.

"It was an amazing feeling," Wagner said. "We just wanted to cry. We worked all four years for this and now we finally get a chance to do it as a team. All five of us seniors are going in there as best friends and we are going to do something.

"It's a good feeling to go to state," Bernard said. "It was a special thing for us to place at divisionals and now we have our names on some hardware here and that is something that lasts forever."

Thinking of where the Ponies were a year ago, makes their run to state even more impressive. After winning just four matches in 2014, Havre won 14 this season and until they fell to Belgrade in the undefeated semifinals at the Eastern A, they had won nine in a row.

Of course, some of the credit has to go to first-year head coach Tamecia Jarvis, who has succeeded in restoring Havre volleyball to its old perch as a Class A contender sooner than expected. But just as much credit should go to the players for not only accepting the change but embracing it.

Even this season, as the Ponies fought their way to a 5-6 start, few thought they had state tournament potential. But, after a late-season run that included two wins over Lewistown, a win over Belgrade and another over Billings Central, HHS finally made believers out of everyone.

"We started out small and we are going out big," Nystrom said. "It's really just special because we worked so hard at it and it's just emotional."

As the third-place team from the East, the Ponies will open their state tournament today against Butte Central, a team that went 17-3 over the course of the season and had all three of its losses come at the hands of Corvallis, the heavy favorite to win it all this weekend.

The Maroons are a talented bunch and they, along with Corvallis, Belgrade, Billings Central and Columbia Falls are teams being mentioned as contenders this week, which is something the Ponies have taken notice of.

"It's exciting that we are finally getting a chance to play at state," Erickson said. "We have worked so hard for it and a lot of teams might be overlooking us, but that's OK. We will let them."

"We have done things this year that we have never done in the past," Huebsch said. "And going to the state tournament is going to be something I will remember for a long time."

Yet, this group of seniors and their teammates are far from satisfied. The Ponies got a taste of success at divisionals and now they are looking to carry that over to the state tournament. And if they can bring home some hardware, something few thought possible at the start of the season, it would cement their legacy even further and make the announcement to every team in Class A volleyball that Havre is once again a force to be reckoned with.

"We want to go in there and make a name for ourselves," Huebsch said. "We have never been to the state tournament so we want to go out there and make Havre look really good."

Havre and Butte Central get their state tournaments underway today at noon in their opening-round matchup in Bozeman.