Havre volleyball heads on the road to face Sidney

While the Havre High volleyball team got the season started with the tipoff tournament in Lockwood last week, the Blue Ponies will actually play their first full match of the season this Saturday on the road at Sidney. With this being their first real competition of the fall, HHS head coach Stephanie Huse hopes to see the Ponies build off last week's tournament.

"My expectation is to just see improvement from where we left last weekend," Huse said. "We've focused on some areas regarding determining our attacks, we're working on cleaning up our defensive moves, both blocking and passing and we're just making sure that we're executing and staying sound to what we're trying to execute both offensively and defensively."

Last year, the Ponies got the better of Sidney in their pair of matches. In the first meeting against Sidney last fall, Havre won in three sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-15) on the road in September. Later in the season at Havre High Gymnasium, Havre again won in three sets (25-12, 25-15, 25-13) to complete the season sweep. While the Ponies have had recent success against Sidney, they should not take the Eagles lightly.

"Sidney's improved quite a bit from last year. They've got some girls that have experience this year versus last year," Huse said. "Their setter, she's got some good hands and then they have a girl that has a pretty tough serve."

At last weekend's tipoff tournament, the Ponies and Eagles played in a two-set match to 20 points a set. The Ponies continued to get the better of the Eagles as they won both sets by scores of 20-5 and 20-18. Coming off a recent competition against the Eagles, the Ponies should have a strong idea of what they will see this Saturday.

"It just let us know what they're bringing to the table and then allowed us to see how we responded to that," Huse said. "For this week, it allowed us to focus on practicing things to execute in order to respond to what they're bringing as far as their game plan and just give us some strong strategies for what we want to do come Saturday."

At the tipoff tournament in Lockwood last weekend, several Ponies got off to strong starts for the year. Kyanna Jarvis finished the weekend with 45 kills, 34 digs and 11 service aces. Avery Carlson also played well with 36 kills and 46 digs. Molly Huse will also look to make an impact this Saturday after recording 126 assists and ten service aces last weekend.

Before their home opener on Sept. 16, the Ponies will play their first three matches of the season on the road. While spending the beginning of the year on the road could be a daunting task for young athletes, Stephanie Huse is happy to have a road trip this early in the season.

"It'll be nice to get one of our long road trips done. Anytime we travel, it's a long way," Huse said. "The other part of being on the road together for so long is that it allows for some team bonding and some continued growth as a team. The road trips, as long as they are, they're good opportunities to grow as a team both on and off the floor."

The HHS volleyball team will head on the road to play Sidney this Saturday at 2 p.m.