Pony volleyball back at it

The Havre High volleyball team already got its season underway, but tonight will be another first for the Blue Ponies, who will take part in their first Central A conference match of the season.

Havre, which won twice at the Eastern A Tip-Off tournament last weekend in Lewistown, will play back-to-back matches within the Central A today, starting at 4 p.m. against Belgrade. Following that match, Havre will take on Livingston, which will also be played in Belgrade.

“Obviously, every match is important and we always want to play well,” HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said. “But we only have a limited amount of matches in our conference, so that makes it pretty important for us.”

Because the Central A conference is part for the larger Eastern A Super Division, the Ponies got a chance to see both Belgrade and Livingston last weekend, facing each team once in the tip-off tournament.

Belgrade, which won the Eastern A Super Divisional a season ago, beat Havre in back-to-back sets, while Havre won in similar fashion against Livingston. And although HHS may have struggled against Belgrade, Jarvis said a lot of it had to do with making mistakes that are easily fixable.

“We played Belgrade pretty tough,” Jarvis said. “We just had some mental errors and things that we need to fix. They are a very good team like they always are. They also have a lot of size again, so we are just going to have to be smart trying to hit around the block.”

One player who will need to be a force around the net for the Ponies is Jacey McDonald. The senior was a Second-Team All-Conference player a season ago and despite the fact she is moving around a bit, she is still Havre’s most consistent hitter. Another key player for HHS, Naomi Terry is still recovering from injury, but others who will contribute for the Ponies are Ceyara Plante, Logan Huebsch, Kiara Christianson and Claire Worm.

After going head-to-head with Belgrade today, Havre will finish out the day against Livingston, but the Ponies’ weekend of volleyball will be far from over, as HHS will stay in Belgrade Saturday for the Windy City Classic.

The Windy City Classic is an annual tournament held each year in Belgrade. It features a number of local schools, including some from the ranks of Class AA, while others same from Class A, Class B or Class C. Much like the Eastern A Tip-off tournament, the matches will not be regulation, but it will be a good learning experience either way.

“We just need to keep playing together and figuring out all of our roles on the team,” Jarvis said. “But I think these tournaments help. It allows us to play a lot of matches and to try some different combinations and experiment a little bit.”

In all, Havre is scheduled for four matches in the Windy City Classic with the first coming at 9 a.m. Saturday vs Bridger. The Ponies will then play Jefferson at 9:30 a.m., Gardiner at 11 a.m., and Townsend at noon. The first four games will serve as pool play, with the tournament portion seeded by the results of round-robin play.

Havre will start its busy weekend on the volleyball court today with a match against Belgrade at 4 p.m., followed by a match against Livingston right after.