Pony netters hit the floor in Lewistown

The Havre High volleyball team nearly climbed to the top of the Eastern A mountain in 2015, finishing third at the Eastern A Super Divisional. But after losing some key players, Havre will find out quickly how far it must go to get back.

That's because starting today, in Lewistown, Havre will take part in the Eastern A Tip-Off Volleyball tournament, which will pit Havre and the rest of the Central A Conference against all the teams from the Eastern A.

Pool play in the tournament will take place today, with tournament play set to follow Saturday. Seeding will be based off the results of pool play. Havre will start its tournament at today against Laurel, followed by matches later today against Belgrade, Miles City and Hardin.

Tamecia Jarvis, who is back for her second season as head coach of the Ponies, said that the tournament will give Havre a chance to find out about the teams they will be competing with for berths to the Class A state tournament later in the season.

"I think it's good because it will give us a chance to see what we are going to be up against," Jarvis said. "Now every team will obviously be different because we will all be getting better, but it will let our girls know what they are facing and how hard they are going to have to work in practice."

While the Ponies certainly want to go to Lewistown and win volleyball matches, the season-opening tournament, which will give HHS a high number of matches over the weekend, will be a great learning experience either way according to Jarvis.

"I think it will let us know about the things that we need to work on," Jarvis said. "It will also be good for them to know that they need to push themselves in practice. But, I think as long as they are working hard and busting their butts, communicating, hustling and talking, it will be good for us."

Of course, one thing that will make the first weekend a challenge for Havre is the lack of experience returning from last year's team. Not only is All-State standout Dani Wagner gone, so are Reggie Bernard, Madison Huebsch, Megan Erickson and Kaitlyn Nystrom.

Yet, the Ponies do have some returning players from a season ago, led by Jacey McDonald, who was among the team leaders in both blocks and kills. Naomi Terry, who will also play a vital role at some point this season, is sidelined right now due to injury.

Others players with previous experience that will play more of a leading role on the varsity team this year include Ceyara Plante, Paige Nelson, Logan Huebsch, Kiara Christianson and Claire Worm. Both Alex and Katie Donaldson will each be counted on as contributors this season, as will Alex Barkus. Emilee Cariveau and Rien Olsen will also make the trip to Lewistown, in part because of the schedule and also the injury to Terry.

"We just want to have a little more in the middle," Jarvis said. "Especially with Naomi out, we wanted to bring a couple others just because we are playing so much."

One major difference between this year's team and last year's, is that after seeing the majority of the kills come from Wagner and Bernard, this year, it will have to be more of a group approach.

"Jacey is still going to be hitting a lot," Jarvis said. "But we are just going to have to be smart with how we hit around the block. We don't have to try to overpower people, we just need to be smart with where we are hitting the ball."

Jarvis also said she is excited to see her team in action and to be able to truly evaluate them against different opponents for the first time this season.

"I feel pretty good how things are going, and I think we have a lot of positives," Jarvis said. "But you never really know until you get out there, so we will just have to wait and see."

The Ponies began their 2016 season today and Saturday in Lewistown.