Bison sweep Ponies in a tight match

While many Havre High sports fans are looking forward to homecoming athletic events, the Blue Pony volleyball team got the sports weekend started early Thursday in Great Falls.

Unfortunately for the Ponies, their week of matches did not begin the way they wanted as they were swept by the Great Falls High Bison by the scores of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-19 at Swarthout Fieldhouse.

The loss drops Havre to 5-5 on the season, while the Bison improved their overall record to 4-11. Havre will look to rebound against Central A conference rival Browning Saturday inside the HHS gymnasium.

“(Interclass play) brings up our level of competition,” HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said to the Great Falls Tribune following the game. “We can beat them. (The Ponies) just need to realize that. When we get leads we need to make a run and capitalize on it and we’re not doing that right now.”

The two teams battled back-and-forth in the opening set with the score eventually reaching 17-17. Yet, the Bison closed out game one with a bang, as they outscored Havre 8-4 the rest of the way to take a 1-0 lead.

The second set was pretty similar as the Ponies surged ahead early on to take an 11-8 lead. But, simply couldn’t hold it. Great Falls High responded with a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead and eventually took the second set by a score of 25-20 after scoring the last four points to take a 2-0 lead.

HHS again built a lead in the third set 13-12, but failed to withstand another impressive run by the Bison, who scored 10 of the set’s final 14 points to win the game and the match 3-0.

Sarah Dutro led the way for the Bison in the win with a match-high 12 kills, while Brooke Ortiz also contributed with 21 assists. Dani Wagner was the top performer for Havre with 11 kills and seven assists and two aces in defeat.

Reggie Bernard also pitched in with four kills, three aces and four blocks for Havre. Naomi Terry added seven assists and two kills, while Jacey McDonald managed to register four blocks and two kills. Madison Huebsch also had 12 digs.

The Ponies are now 5-5 on the season overall but still sit at 2-1 in Central A conference play. Havre will look to rebound from their second straight defeat Saturday night inside the HHS gymnasium, when HHS will host Browning. The match will start at approximately 5 p.m. Havre will turn around and travel to Browning next Saturday. Then, the Ponies will close out the regular season with four of their last five matches at home.

Great Falls High def. Havre

25-21, 25-20, 25-19

Havre – Kills 22 (Dani Wagner 11, Reggie Bernard 4, Megan Erickson 3); Assists 14 (Wagner 7, Naomi Terry 7); Aces 8 (Bernard 3, Wagner 2, Kaitlin Nystrom 2); Digs 43 (Madison Huebsch 11, Wagner 8, Nystom 8); Blocks 9 (Jacey McDonald 4, Bernard 3).