Blue Ponies defeat Lewistown in three sets

Coming into the weekend, the Havre High volleyball team had a heavy slate ahead with three matches in just three days. On Thursday night at Havre High Gymnasium, the Blue Ponies got the weekend started on the right foot as they defeated Lewistown in three sets (25-19, 25-9, 25-22).

"The girls just did a good job of making sure they were aggressive the entire time," HHS head coach Stephanie Huse said about the win. "We have to do that against teams like (Lewistown) who are pretty tenacious on defense."

Many Ponies had strong performances in the match. Avery Carlson led the team with 10 kills and Emilee Chambliss played well with six kills, eight digs and two blocks. Molly Huse had a strong performance with 26 assists and six service aces.

The Ponies are now 7-0 on the year and 5-0 in the Northeast A. While it would be easy for the Ponies to get complacent, they believe they have the energy to go out every night and continue to play well.

"I think we have a lot of fire this year," Carlson said. "We're competitive, we support each other and I think that's how we keep things rolling."

The Golden Eagles started the first set with two quick points to take the lead. The Ponies responded with four straight points to take the lead themselves. After Lewistown scored to cut the lead to 4-3, the Ponies went on a 6-1 run to stretch the lead to 10-4.

The Ponies held onto momentum through most of the first set as they extended the lead to 20-10. The Eagles went on an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 23-18, but the Ponies were able to score two points to win the set, 25-19, to take the 1-0 lead in the match.

The Ponies then got off to a scorching start in the second set. The Ponies dominated early on as they jumped out to an 11-0 lead under the serving of Molly Huse, who had three aces during the stretch.

"We were pretty consistent with our serving," Stephanie Huse said. "If you have ball control and you serve well, you're going to be successful."

The Eagles tried to grab some momentum but the Ponies coasted to a 25-9 win in the second set to take a 2-0 lead in the match. With the match on the line, the Eagles took a 4-2 lead to start the third set.

But again, the Ponies grabbed momentum with an 11-2 run to take a 13-6 lead. The Eagles scored three straight points to cut the deficit to four and stay in the match. Over the next few minutes, the Ponies continued to play well but the Eagles kept pace to keep themselves in striking distance.

With a 21-17 lead late in the set, it looked like the Ponies would close it out for the easy win. But the Eagles had other plans as they scored four straight points to tie the set. The Ponies and Eagles then exchanged points to make it 22-22.

Despite the momentum shift, the Ponies were able to gather themselves. With the set tied, they scored three straight points to win the set, 25-22, to close out the match. After some struggles late in the match, Carlson believes the Ponies just came together when they needed to the most.

"I think we're really team oriented," Carlson said. "So when things are going bad, somebody else picks up the slack. When somebody else is struggling, the next person comes in and fills the role."

After the win, the Ponies have little time to rest as they have matches against Glendive and Ronan over the next few days. While the Ponies will be coming off another strong win, Huse wants them to learn from their struggles late in this match.

"I'm not really crazy about how we ended the match. I thought we were tight and we weren't really in control," Huse said. "The takeaway is making sure that when things aren't going smoothly, that we have to find the thing that works and use that and go to it and try to shift it back and not get too stressed. We've got to keep that momentum up no matter what."

The HHS volleyball team will next play tonight at 7 p.m. on the road against Glendive.

Havre def. Lewistown

25-19, 25-9, 25-22

HAV - Aces 8 (Molly Huse 6, Lizzi Haney 1, Yelena Miller 1); Kills 24 (Avery Carlson 10, Emilee Chambliss 6, Miller 6); Assists 27 (Huse 26); Blocks 5 (Chambliss 2, Miller 2, Ariana Gary 1); Digs 64 (Haney 23, Kyanna Jarvis 14, Chambliss 8).