Blue Pony volleyball aims to continue last year's success

While 2020 was a rough year for most, the same can not be said for the Havre High volleyball team as they qualified for the State A tournament last year. While the team will have some new players this season, head coach Stephanie Huse believes these younger players will develop as the team's seniors lead them to success this fall.

"Expectations for this group is that they continue to grow and develop. We got some younger girls that it's their first year on varsity so they need to be patient and keep working hard" Huse said. "Seniors will just maintain what they always do, which is good leadership and good ball control. When we have good ball control, we'll be in any game."

Huse will have several key players returning to the Blue Ponies this fall. Alyssa Oliver returns to serve as the team's libero to give them good ball control. Maddie Columbus also returns as one of the team's middle hitters. Other key returners for the Ponies include Avery Carlson, Lizzi Haney and Molly Huse. And, of course, Huse will also have an all-state player returning in Yelena Miller.

A key newcomer for the Ponies this fall will be Jade Wendland. She already has experience in high school volleyball after transferring to Havre from North Star. Not only does she give Havre another solid player, but Huse believes she will give the team energy and spirit. With all these players on her roster, Stephanie Huse is confident that her team will be successful in several aspects of the game.

"Our biggest strength right now as I see it will be our serving and our ball control," Huse said.

The Ponies will open their season with the tip-off tournament in Sidney this weekend. Huse believes the tournament will be important because they will get to see all the other teams in their conference and see how good they can be this fall. But she also looks forward to all their home matches this fall after having limited fans last season because of COVID-19.

"Any home match is one that we look forward to," Huse said. "This year we get to have everybody so it's exciting. I know the girls are excited about it."

After the tip-off tournament, the Ponies will head on the road to face Chinook on Sept. 2. They will then return for four straight home matches, starting with a conference match against Lewistown on Sept. 3. Their next three matches will then be against Laurel, Columbia Falls and Miles City. On Sept. 18, they will head on the road to face Glendive who also qualified for the state tournament last year.

Over the next month, they will play against the likes of Lewistown, Miles City, Chinook, Glendive and Sidney again. The Ponies will also participate in Blocktober Fest in Butte from Oct. 15 to 16. They will then play on the road at Shelby and Livingston before ending the regular season at home against Hardin. The divisional tournament will then begin in Laurel on Nov. 4.

While Huse believes the Northeast A conference will be a challenge to get through this fall, she is more than optimistic that she has the players to survive it.

"This group makes me excited. They love volleyball, they love to come to the gym every day," Huse said. "They compete. I don't have to do a lot of firing them up. They have it in themselves. So they make my job a lot easier that way. I'm just excited where they want to take it. I think there's a lot of potential with this group and I hope that they can meet their potential."

The HHS volleyball team will begin their season in Sidney with the tip-off tournament this weekend.