Ponies hunting for Eastern A volleyball title

Postseason volleyball has finally arrived in Montana and the Havre High Blue Ponies are ready to make a run. The Ponies finished the regular season with a 13-1 record to finish atop the Northeast A standings and they enter the postseason riding a 10-match winning streak.

The Ponies will look to carry that momentum into the Eastern A Divisional Volleyball Tournament this weekend in Laurel. Even though Havre has had much success against many of the other teams in the bracket, HHS head coach Stephanie Huse expects a long weekend to determine a divisional champion.

"Our divisional bracket is a very competitive bracket," Huse said. "The eastern side of the state has really strong volleyball programs so it's going to be a strong tournament."

As the No. 1 seed from the Northeast A, the Ponies will begin the tournament Thursday afternoon but they do not have a scheduled opponent yet. Instead, they wait to face the winner of a match Wednesday between Southeast No. 4 seed Livingston and No. 5 seed Sidney.

Regardless of who the Ponies play, they will be facing a team they have already defeated this season. The Ponies have played Sidney twice this season and won both matches. Havre won on the road in September at Sidney, 3-0, by scores of 25-16, 25-18 and 25-15. At home in October, the Ponies again defeated Sidney, 3-0, by scores of 25-12, 25-15 and 25-13.

Havre has also already faced Livingston this season. In the tip-off tournament in Sidney back in August, the Ponies won the two-set match by scores of 20-10 and 20-11. Last week on the road, Havre defeated Livingston, 3-0, by scores of 25-12, 25-11 and 25-13. Since the Ponies have already seen both teams this fall, they will focus on improving within their system before Thursday's match.

"We try not to focus a lot on our opponents because there's a lot of factors that we can't control," Huse said. "We focus more on what we need to do within our system and what we need to do to be successful."

There are many other teams in the tournament that the Ponies will need to be ready for in case they run into them. Northeast No. 4 seed Lewistown and Southeast No. 5 seed Lockwood will play each other on Wednesday night to open the tournament. The winner of that match will then go on to play Southeast No. 1 seed Billings Central on Thursday.

Northeast No. 2 seed Glendive will play Southeast No. 3 seed Laurel to open tournament play Thursday morning. Their match will then be followed up by a match between Southeast No. 2 seed Hardin and Northeast No. 3 seed Miles City.

Huse believes any one of these teams can give the Ponies trouble in a potential matchup. While Havre has had success against most of these teams, the Ponies have also suffered losses to teams such as Billings Central, Laurel and Miles City so no team should be taken lightly.

"All the teams are more than capable of going deep into the tournament," Huse said.

The top four teams in this weekend's tournament will qualify for the state tournament next weekend in Bozeman. The Ponies worked hard through the course of the season to earn the Northeast No. 1 seed in this weekend's tournament. However, the Ponies will need to continue working hard as a team in order to make a run and earn a spot in the state tournament.

"We have discovered that when we are most successful, it's when we're really focusing individually on what each person can do within our system to make the team as a whole successful," Huse said. "As we're doing that, supporting each other, encouraging each other and just bringing a lot of energy and excitement each match and each set, those are the things that help us do well."

The Ponies will begin postseason competition when they face either Livingston or Sidney Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the Eastern A Divisional Tournament in Laurel.

Eastern A

Nov. 3-6 at Laurel High School

Wednesday

Match 1: Lewistown vs. Lockwood, 6 p.m.

Match 2: Livingston vs. Sidney, 7:45 p.m.

Thursday

Match 3: Glendive vs. Laurel, 10 a.m.

Match 4: Hardin vs. Miles City, 11:45 a.m.

Match 5: Billings Central vs. Match 1 winner, 1;30 p.m.

Match 6: Havre vs. Match 2 winner, 3:30 p.m.

Match 7: Match 2 loser vs. Match 5 loser, 5:15 p.m.

Match 8: Match 1 loser vs. Match 6 loser, 7 p.m.

Friday

Match 9: Match 3 loser vs. Match 7 winner, 9 a.m.

Match 10: Match 4 loser vs. Match 8 winner, 10:45 a.m.

Match 11: Match 3 winner vs. Match 5 winner, 12:30 p.m.

Match 12: Match 4 winner vs. Match 6 winner, 2:30 p.m.

Match 13: Match 10 winner vs. Match 11 loser, 4:15 p.m.

Match 14: Match 9 winner vs. Match 12 loser, 6 p.m.

Match 15: Match 11 winner vs. Match 12 winner, 7:45 p.m.

Saturday

Match 16: Match 13 winner vs. Match 14 winner, 10 a.m.

Match 17: Match 16 winner vs. Match 15 loser, 11:45 a.m.

Match 18: Match 15 winner vs. Match 17 winner, 1:30 p.m., championship

Game 19: Second championship match, if necessary, 30 minutes after Match 18