Blocktoberfest offers Blue Pony spikers new challenges

After several weeks of regular competition, the Havre High volleyball team will take part in Blocktoberfest this weekend in Butte. After playing several teams from the Northeast A this season, HHS head coach Stephanie Huse looks forward to playing new teams this weekend.

"We're basically looking to see a challenge and face some new competition and see how we respond to that," Huse said.

The Blocktoberfest tournament will have a round-robin format today before transitioning into bracket play Saturday to determine the tournament champion. Each match will be two sets played to 20 points. With these shorter matches, the Ponies will play many matches over the weekend, which Huse hopes will help the Ponies down the line.

"Being able to compete at high levels and then turn it around and go into bracket play on Saturday, I think it's just another good way to get us ready for the tournament coming up here in a month," Huse said. "So that'll benefit us."

Havre will compete in a pool against the likes of Corvallis, Frenchtown, Hardin, Polson, Columbia Falls, Lockwood and Florence. Many of these teams are at the top of their conferences, so Huse expects many competitive matches on Friday.

"We're in a tough pool," Huse said. "It's a good pool to be in and I think it'll be good to be able to have that exposure and play all those teams."

Havre started the tournament today at 9:40 a.m. with a match against Hardin. The Ponies then played Florence at 10:20 a.m. The Ponies then wrapped up the morning at 11:40 a.m. with a match against Corvallis.

The Ponies will start the afternoon at 1 p.m. with a match against Polson. Later at 3 p.m., Havre will face Frenchtown before playing Lockwood at 4:20 p.m. The Ponies will then wrap up the day with a match against Columbia Falls at 5:40 p.m.

Depending on how they finish in pool play, the Ponies will start bracket play Saturday either at 9 a.m. or 10:15 a.m. If the Ponies win that match, they will play another match at 12:45 p.m. If they win that one, the Ponies will play in the championship match at 3 p.m.

In the regular season, the Ponies have excelled so far this season with a 10-0 record and a 7-0 record in the Northeast A. Even though the results of this tournament will not affect the standings, several Ponies will look to keep up their strong play.

Avery Carlson and Kyanna Jarvis are key players for the Havre offense as they lead the team in kills this year. This past weekend against Miles City, Carlson led the team with 13 kills while Jarvis recorded six kills. On defense, Lizzi Haney will look to play well as she leads the team in digs this fall. Molly Huse will be a key play as she has most of the assists for Havre this year.

As they get to face new teams this weekend, Huse looks forward to learning more about the teams they might face in the postseason next month. Along with the teams they have already faced this year, Huse believes this tournament will leave the Ponies with little surprises at the end of the year.

"It's good to just see what's going on on the (west) side and already know what we have on our (east) side and what we're up against," Huse said. "It's just good to get early exposure and learn about them."

The HHS volleyball team was set to begin Blocktoberfest at 9:40 a.m. today in Butte.