Havre High volleyball sweeps Shelby in road match

The Havre High volleyball team has been at the top of its game the past month. The Blue Ponies have not lost since Sept. 11 and have now made it eight straight wins with a 3-0 win over Shelby by scores of 25-12, 25-19 and 25-23 on the road Thursday night.

"I thought we came out really well," HHS head coach Stephanie Huse said. "The girls stayed aggressive throughout the entire match which is something that we've been trying to focus on."

The win improved the Ponies' record to 11-1 this season. It did not take long for the Ponies to show why they are a good team as they jumped on the Coyotes early for a 10-4 lead to start the first set. Instead of letting the Coyotes fight their way back, the Ponies continued to build their lead before ultimately winning the set, 25-12, for a 1-0 lead in the match. Huse credits her team's aggressiveness for their strong start to the night.

"I think our serving was key. We were aggressive," Huse said. "They had a hard time running their offense. They were giving us a lot of free balls, and I think that was the biggest part to set one."

The Ponies carried that momentum into the second set as they raced out to a 4-1 lead. But this time, the Coyotes fought back to take an 8-6 lead. Havre fought back and took control of the set to build a 17-10 lead. Shelby swung right back to get back into the match but Havre held on to win, 25-19, for a 2-0 lead in the match.

Unlike the first two sets, the Coyotes came out hot to start the third set as they took a 9-4 lead. But the Ponies were resilient and came back to tie it, 10-10. Through the rest of the set, the Ponies and Coyotes exchanged leads. The teams eventually fought to a 23-23 tie but that is when the Ponies scored two straight points to win the set and the match. Huse believes the Ponies were able to win the third set because they played as scrappy as their opponent.

"The one thing we learned about Shelby is that they were very scrappy. They kept the ball alive. The minute we thought it was down, it was up and they just fought," Huse said. "We had to match that. We had to clean up a lot of our play because sometimes in the scrappiness of it all, it gets sloppy. So our focus was just to be as scrappy but to clean it up and execute our offense."

Avery Carlson led the Ponies with eight kills on the night and also had 14 digs. Molly Huse had a strong night with 21 assists, 11 digs and three blocks. Lizz Haney recorded three service aces for the Ponies.

With the postseason just a few weeks away, the Ponies will look to keep up their momentum over the last two matches of their regular season. While they defeated Shelby, Stephanie Huse did see some things that the Ponies need to improve on if they want to be successful in the postseason.

"There's definitely little things that we need to improve on," Huse said. "Holding energy throughout the entire match, not falling into some lulls that we're finding little pockets of. We've just got to continue to keep energy when things aren't going our way."

The Ponies will next play on the road at Livingston Oct. 29.

Havre def. Shelby

25-15, 25-19, 25-23

HAV - Aces 3 (Lizzi Haney 3); Kills 32 (Avery Carlson 8, Yelena Miller 8, Maddie Columbus 7); Assists 25 (Molly Huse 21); Blocks 8 (Huse 3, Miller 2, Columbus 2); Digs 68 (Ayssa Oliver 16, Carlson 14, Huse 11).