Havre volleyball rolls through busy weekend

This past weekend was a busy one for the Havre High volleyball team. After defeating Lewistown Thursday night, the Blue Ponies played in matches against Glendive and Ronan Friday and Saturday.

Despite the busy slate, the Ponies showed no signs of slowing down as they defeated Glendive (25-9, 25-19, 25-19) Friday and then defeated Ronan in three sets (25-9, 25-22, 25-17) at Havre High Gymnasium Saturday.

"I'm just really proud of the girls. Three matches in three days is a tall task," HHS head coach Stephanie Huse said. "I thought the girls did a really good job of just doing what they needed to do and finding the energy when they needed to find it to finish the matches."

The Ponies started the weekend on the road Friday night with their match against Glendive. After holding off Lewistown the previous night, the Ponies came out strong as they won the set, 25-9, to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

After a weak first set, the Red Devils settled down and played better over the next two sets of the match. In the second set, the Devils competed hard but the Ponies still won the set, 25-19, to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The third set followed a similar pattern with the Ponies winning it, 25-19, to close out the match in three sets.

Yelena Miller had a strong match against Glendive as she recorded seven kills, two blocks and two service aces. As a team, the Ponies had a strong serving game with 13 total aces. Lizzi Haney led the team with five aces while Kyanna Jarvis recorded four aces against Glendive.

The Ponies kept up their play in their three-set win over Ronan at home Saturday afternoon. Even though it was their third match in three days, the Ponies came out strong as they won the first set, 25-9, to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

"We were just really aggressive offensively. We put a lot of balls away," Huse said about the strong start.

But the Ponies faced a little more resistance in the second set against Ronan. After a 3-3 tie early in the set, the Ponies scored two straight points to take the lead. Ronan responded with three straight points to take an 8-5 lead in the set.

"Their serving was a little bit more aggressive. We had a little bit of a challenge on our serve receive but they're a good team" Huse said about Ronan. "We knew that even though the first set went the way it did, they'd come back and challenge us."

Havre and Ronan continued to go back and forth through the second set. The Ponies came back to tie the set 11-11. The Ponies were able to take the lead thanks to some kills from Miller, Avery Carlson and Emilee Chambliss. But Ronan came right back to tie the set 19-19.

The Ponies retook the lead but were never able to pull away. But with a 24-22 lead, a kill from Miller gave the Ponies the win in the set and the 2-0 lead in the match. Despite the adversity in the set, Jarvis believes the Ponies' teamwork helped them pull through to win.

"We were just talking to each other and being the team we are. We came together to win that set," Jarvis said.

The third set also started competitively with Havre and Ronan fighting to a 7-7 tie. The Ponies were then able to grab momentum as they took a 15-12 lead. They then scored six straight points to stretch the lead to 21-12. During the stretch, Miller made an impact with back-to-back service aces.

Ronan tried to claw its way back but the Ponies went on to win the third set, 25-17, to take the match in three sets. Miller finished the match with eight service aces and five blocks. Chambliss also played well with 11 kills and a pair of blocks.

The Ponies showed no signs of slowing down in their three matches over three days. Not only did they win all the matches, but they won every set in them. With the postseason coming up next month, this tight schedule is a good test for what the Ponies are capable of.

"We just have a good mindset to be able to play that many sets," Jarvis said. "It's preparing us for tournament time."

With the strong weekend, the Ponies improved to 9-0 on the season and 6-0 in Northeast A competition. With how the Ponies played over the busy weekend, Huse believes the Ponies have shown they can handle anything thrown at them.

"We have the energy, we have the focus and we have all the keys that we need to be successful even when we're a little depleted in our energy reserves," Huse said. "It's nice when you have a lot of different options and a lot of different weapons on your team that you can go to."

The Ponies will next play in their homecoming match against Miles City at Havre High Gymnasium this Saturday at 4 p.m.

Havre def. Glendive

25-9, 25-19, 25-19

HAV - Aces 13 (Lizzi Haney 5, Kyanna Jarvis 4, Yelena Miller 2); Kills 24 (Miller 7, Avery Carlson 6, Jarvis 4); Assists 20 (Molly Huse 20); Blocks 2 (Miller 2); Digs 67 (Jarvis 24, Haney 13).

Havre def. Ronan

25-9, 25-22, 25-17

RON - Aces 4 (Claire Crist 2); Kills 13 (Leina Ulutoa 4, Kylie Fetai 4); Assists 13 (Ulutoa 6, Fetai 6); Blocks 6 (Jase Frost 2); Digs 36 (Margaret Cordova 15).

HAV - Aces 8 (Yelena Miller 8); Kills 37 (Emilee Chambliss 11, Avery Carlson 9, Kyanna Jarvis 8); Assists 34 (Molly Huse 30); Blocks 8 (Miller 5, Chambliss 2, Huse 1); Digs 85 (Lizzi Haney 27, Carlson 19, Jarvis 11).