HHS spikers gain experience at prestigious Electric City tourney

The Havre High volleyball team had a difficult task ahead of it this past weekend as it took part in the Electric City Classic in Great Falls.

The tournament, which is hosted by both Great Falls and CMR, features mostly Class AA teams, as well as a few Class A squads like Havre and Lewistown. Havre, which played six matches Friday in pool play at the tournament, faced six Class AA squads and therefore finished with a record of zero wins, six losses and one draw. Yet, against the level of competition the Blue Ponies were facing, the results weren’t anything to be ashamed of.

“I feel like a broken record, but I thought we did some good things, but we also have some things we need to work on,” HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said. “We did a better job of hitting the ball, we had a few girls hitting in the positives, but the biggest thing for this team is communication. We are just not able to communicate with each other right now and that is one of the things that we really need to work on.”

In Havre’s opening match, the Ponies fell to Great Falls High 2-0, losing by the scores of 20-8 and 20-17. Against Billings West, it was a similar story, with Havre falling 20-9 and 20-10. Helena Capital also dispatched of Havre in two games, 20-12 and 20-6.

Yet, after falling to Capital, the Ponies did earn a split against Missoula Big Sky, losing the first set 20-16, before rallying to win the second set by the same margin. After that, Havre took on Butte High and fell 20-16 and 20-19. Then, the Ponies closed out the first day by falling to Billings Skyview (20-19, 20-11) and to Glacier (20-12, 20-16).

With its record, HHS was put into consolation play at CMR High School Saturday morning and after losing its first match to Helena High in the double-elimination tournament, the Ponies turned around and were ousted by Central A rival Lewistown.

“I just don’t want our girls getting used to this,” Jarvis said. “We have to keep getting better and improving and that’s one of the things that I think we are missing right now is that want and that desire to want to get better.”

This past weekend was the final one of tournament play for the Ponies, who will play regulation matches for the rest of the season, starting this coming Saturday, when HHS will travel to Contrad.

Electric City Invitational

Saturday

Consolation bracket

at C.M. Russell High

(Match score not available)

First round

Havre def. Havre

Big Sky def. Lewistown Fergus

Great Falls def. Flathead

Hellgate def. Butte

Semifinals

Helena def. Big Sky

Great Falls def. Hellgate

Loser-out second round

Lewistown Fergus def. Havre

Flathead def. Butte

Loser-out semifinals

Hellgate def. Lewistown Fergus

Big Sky def. Flathead

Consolation third place

Big Sky def. Hellgate

Consolation championship

Helena def. Great Falls