Blue Ponies head to Butte for Blocktoberfest

This weekend, the Havre High volleyball team will take a break from conference competition with the Blocktoberfest tournament in Butte. With many teams competing in this weekend's tournament, HHS head coach Cassie Krueger looks forward to seeing how the Blue Ponies fare.

"It should be a great tournament," Krueger said. "We have to start strong, stay strong, and I'm just excited to see how the girls turn out against a bunch of teams that we haven't seen yet."

The Ponies will begin the tournament with pool play Friday. Across the day, the Ponies will play teams such as Anaconda, Miles City, Hardin, Dillon, Livingston, Ronan, Bigfork and Stevensville in single sets that will be played to 30 points. While there will be many tough teams, there are a few that Krueger especially looks forward to playing.

"I'm very excited to see Hardin again. I believe that they're one of the best teams in the state," Krueger said. "And I'm hoping to see Lockwood, Billings Central and Laurel again."

The Ponies have had a strong season so far with an overall record of 9-3 and a record of 5-1 in the Northeast A. However, the Poneis are coming off a pair of five-set losses to Glendive and Billings Central this past weekend. As they look to rebound from those defeats, Krueger believes the Ponies just need to execute better this weekend.

"We're just looking to improve upon little aspects of our game - communication, working together, tidying up our block a little bit - just things like that," Krueger said. "Overall, I think the girls played phenomenally this last weekend, it was just two heartbreaking outcomes."

After this tournament, the Ponies will only have two more matches left in the regular season. With the postseason fast approaching, Krueger hopes the Ponies use this weekend's tournament to prepare themselves.

"It's going to give the girls a good idea on what divisionals and state is going to look like and the pressure to perform," Krueger said. "It's going to give us a great opportunity to come together and really start figuring out when times get tough, how are we going to fight."

The HHS volleyball team will begin Blocktoberfest Friday in Butte.