HHS spikers fall to Conrad

The atmosphere inside the Havre High gymnasium was electrifying as the Havre High volleyball team took to its home court for the first time this season against the Conrad Cowgirls.

Yet, the hometown fans left disappointed, as the Ponies dropped a heartbreaker to Conrad in a match that took five games to decide Thursday night. The two teams battled back and forth all night long but in the end, Conrad came out on top with scores of 25-21, 13-25, 19-25, 25-21 and 15-12.

"I think this loss will be good for us," HHS head coach Melanie Skoyen said. "Conrad is a team that we should beat. They are a good team and they played really well. They deserved that win tonight. But we did overlook them.

"At the same time, we just have a lot of young errors that we are making," She added. "Most of our girls don't have a lot of experience on varsity so that is part of it. But we got complacent and we were not taking balls that we should have and just stopped trusting each other."

The Ponies got off to a sluggish start in the first game of the match and after the two teams exchanged points to create an early 7-7 tie, the Cowgirls ripped off six straight points to take a 13-7 advantage. That lead would eventually grow to 21-12 and after holding off a late Havre rally, Conrad won game one 25-21.

In game two, HHS looked like a completely different team. The Ponies built an early 5-0 lead thanks to a pair of aces from Dani Wagner and never looked back. They would go onto win the game easily, 25-12.

The Ponies continued their solid play in game three and even though Conrad built an early 7-3, Havre answered with a 12-4 run that put HHS is control of things at 15-10. Conrad did pull within one point at 18-17 but thanks to a number of errors by the Cowgirls, Havre won 25-19 to take a 2-1 advantage heading into game four.

It appeared as though Havre had the Cowgirls right where they wanted him but Conrad refused to quit and came out on fire in game four, quickly building a 5-1 lead. Havre rallied a couple different times in the game and pulled with one at 18-17 but never got closer. The Cowgirls would lead for the entire game and after HHS hit back-to-back balls into the net, Conrad escaped with a 25-21 win to force a fifth and deciding game.

In the final game, Conrad again jumped out to an early lead on the Ponies at 4-1. Yet, Havre rallied and tied the game at 6-6 on a Megan Erickson kill. Trailing 10-9, HHS scored three straight points to go ahead 12-10 and looked poised to seal its first win of the season. But the Cowgirls had other ideas and scored the final five points to escape with a win.

"We had our chances," Skoyen said. "In the last game, we got a 12-10 lead and that is really when you need to finish. We had a chance to finish in the last two games and just could not do it. Finishing is something that we need to work on."

Wagner led the way for the Ponies in the losing effort as she had team-highs in kills with six and aces with four. Jordyn Warren also put together a solid performance for Havre with a game-high 29 digs. Carlene Rennick and Samy Huston also contributed with three blocks each.

For the Cowgirls, Krista Judisch put on a show and finished the game with an eye-popping 23 kills, one more than the 22 kills Havre managed as a team. Kyleight Salois also added seven kills on the night for Conrad. Andrea Russell also had a good night for the Cowgirls with four aces and 27 digs.

"The one thing that I do really enjoy about this team is that they do all play as a team," Skoyen said. "They play well together and they never give up. We just need to learn to trust each other and get more experience playing together."

Despite the loss, the Ponies will be back in the saddle today as they head to Great Falls for the Electric City Classic, where they will square off against a host of Class AA schools as well as Lewistown.

Conrad def. Havre

25-21, 13-25, 25-19, 25-21, 15-12

Havre: Kills 22 (Dani Wagner 6, Reggie Bernard 5, Carlene Rennick 5), Digs 94 (Jordyn Warren 29, Dani Wagner 18), Assists 15 (Naomi Terry 7 Dani Wagner 6), Aces 14 (Dani Wagner 4, Reggie Bernard 3), Blocks 7 (Carlene Rennick 3, Samy Huston 3).

Conrad: Kills 46 (Kristie Judisch 23, Kyleigh Salois 7), Digs 92 (Andrea Russell 27, Krista Judisch 17), Assists 44 (Michaela DeBoo 39), Aces 15 (Andrea Russell 4, Coleen Adams 2), Blocks 4 (Deirde Mecham).