HHS spikers fall to Laurel at Eastern A

In each of the past two seasons, the Havre High volleyball team has opened the Eastern A Divisional Tournament with a win and Wednesday in Lewistown, it was looking to do it for the third straight year.

The Blue Ponies even faced the same team in the opening round, that they did a season ago in the Eastern A Divisional, the Laurel Locomotives. Last year, HHS won in four sets, but this time around, the Locomotives enacted some revenge, knocking of the Ponies in five sets, by the scores of 19-25, 25-13, 15-25, 25-17 and 15-8 in Lewistown.

“It was a good match,” HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said. “We played like a team. We should have pulled it out.”

Havre, which is still winless within conference play this season, started strong in the opening round Wednesday, taking the first game off of Laurel 25-19. Yet, the Ponies advantage wouldn’t last long in the match, as Laurel evened things up at 1-1, following a decisive 25-13 win in the second set.

But Havre, which registered 73 digs, was not going to go down without a fight and in the third set, the Ponies scored a 25-15 victory, pushing Laurel to the brink of defeat. However, with its back to the wall, Laurel notched a 25-15 win to force a fifth set. In the deciding game, the Ponies mustered only eight points and fell to the Locomotives 15-8.

Despite the loss, HHS did have a solid night hitting the ball and finished the match with 32 kills, seven apiece from Paige Nelson and Logan Huebsch. The Ponies also tallied 12 blocks in the loss, with 4.5 coming from Camryn Huston. Sophomore Peyton Brown also had a good night for the Ponies, notching four of the team’s 10 aces, while also pitching in with 14 assists.

Sophomore Sam Oliver led the way in assists for Havre with 16. Katie Donaldson was another senior that put forth a strong effort for the Ponies, winding up with three aces and a team-high 28 digs. Nelson, who led the team in kills, also played well defensively, finishing with 23 digs.

And while the Ponies suffered a setback, they're not done yet. Havre is still alive in the double-elimination tournament and will try to keep it that way tonight, when they will play in loser-out action at 7 p.m. Havre will play the loser of the first quarterfinal Thursday morning. Laurel advanced into one of the other quarterfinals Thursday, where it will face Billings Central. The tournament will run through Saturday in Lewistown, with the top four teams advancing to the Class A state tournament next week in Bozeman.

Laurel def. Havre

19-25, 25-13, 15-25, 25-17, 15-8

Havre - Kills 32 (Paige Nelson 7, Logan Huebsch 7); Blocks 12 (Camryn Huston 4.5); Aces 10 (Peyton Brown 4, Katie Donaldson 3); Digs 73 (Katie Donaldson 28, Paige Nelson 23): Assists 34 (Sam Oliver 16, Peyton Brown 14).