By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
There was no shortage of service aces, solid kills or screams of success this past weekend in Hi-Line volleyball, particularly in Chinook, where the hometown Beeters captured their own invitational volleyball tournament.
Chinook lost just one game, a pool play loss to Shelby, to start the tournament and then never looked back. The Beeters defeated Chester, Valier, Conrad and Wolf Point in the remainder of pool play on Friday.
In tournament play on Saturday, Chinook grabbed a first-round bye for finishing as one of the top teams in its pool. In the quarterfinals, the Beeters took care of Fairfield to move to the semifinals, where they defeated conference foe Cut Bank.
In the championship, Chinook dispatched with Glasgow with relative ease by scores of 25-18, 25-13.
In District 6C, conference matches started with a pair of yearly favorites taking an early step toward the top. The Chester Coyotes and Blue Sky/J-I Eagles picked up a pair of wins over Box Elder and Rocky Boy on the weekend to move to 2-0 in conference play.
The Coyotes scored a relatively easy win over Box Elder 25-5, 25-22, 25-19 in Chester. Shawnee Norick led the Coyotes with four blocks and seven kills. But it was Chester's serving that did the most damage. The Coyotes served up 15 service aces led by Joanna LaSorte and Amanda Violett with three each.
Box Elder was led by Loni Lamere with 10 digs and Rokki Parker with four kills and two blocks.
Chester had little trouble with Rocky Boy, scoring another three-game win by scores of 25-15, 25-13, 25-22. The Coyotes' serving continued to be a factor. Chester served up 15 more aces with Norick notching five. She also added seven kills in the win.
Rocky Boy got six kills and six aces from Loni Belcourt and 11 assists from Rainbow Stump.
Blue Sky/J-I's conference debut as a co-op team went fairly well. The Eagles did drop a game in a 25-10, 18-25, 25-11, 25-17 win over Box Elder.
Again serving was a major factor as the Eagles served up 19 aces in the match. Senior Kaila Warren had 10 aces to lead the Eagles. She also added five assists and three blocks. Sophomore Hannah Pimley added seven kills and three blocks for Blue Sky/J-I.
Box Elder got solid matches from Codi Raining Bird and Ashley Parisian. Raining Bird picked up four kills, six aces and 19 digs. Parisian had nine assists and three aces. Loni Lamere added 19 digs.
The Eagles completed the weekend sweep with a 25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18 win over Rocky Boy. Warren continued her solid play, picking up a whopping 24 kills in the match. She also served six of the Eagles' 23 aces in the match and added six digs and a pair of blocks. Jourdon Han had 23 assists in the match.
Rocky Boy got six kills from Loni Belcourt. Her sister, Tori, added nine digs, while Jamie Anderson added seven aces in the loss.
The Big Sandy Pioneers scored a big 25-19, 21-25, 27-25, 25-20 win over perennial 6C contender Sunburst. Shalayna Pearson picked up 11 kills, seven blocks and three aces to lead a balanced Big Sandy effort. Kacy Herron dished out eight assists in the match. Sunburst was led by Rachel Kleinert's 12 kills and four aces.
The Refiners did manage a split for the weekend, defeating KG 25-13, 25-12, 25-20. Cherry Tomsheck had eight kills to lead Sunburst. KG got nine kills from Jodi Norman and five aces from Whitney Hanson in the loss.
Chinook Invitational
First round - Malta def. Conrad, Stanford def. Chester, Valier def. Harlem, Fairfield def. Wolf Point
Quarterfinals - Shelby def. Malta, Glasgow def. Valier, Cut Bank def. Stanford, Chinook def. Fairfield
Loser-out - Malta def. Harlem, Valier def. Conrad, Wolf Point def. Stanford, Chester def. Fairfield
Semifinals - Glasgow def. Shelby, Chinook def. Cut Bank
Loser-out - Cut Bank def. Valier, Shelby def. Chester
Consolation championship - Cut Bank def. Shelby 25-19, 25-21
Championship - Chinook def. Glasgow 25-18, 25-13
Chester def. Box Elder
25-5, 25-22, 25-19
Box Elder - Kills 9 (Rokki Parker 4); Assists 7 (Ashley Parisian 5) Digs 30 (Loni Lamere 10); Blocks 4 (Parker 2, Ventura Campbell 2), Aces 8 (Codi Raining Bird 3, Tasha Parisian 3).
Chester - Kills 7 (Shawnee Norick 2);. Assists 5 (Keyla Wendland 3); Aces 15 (Joanna LaSorte 3, Amanda Violett 3); Digs 1 (Wendland 1), Blocks 7 (Norick 4)
Blue Sky/J-I def. Box Elder
25-10, 18-25, 25-11, 25-17
Blue Sky/J-I - Aces 19 (Kaila Warren 10, Maia Aageson 5); Kills 24 (Hannah Pimley 7, Kim Patrick 5); Blocks 12 (Warren 3, Pimley 3); Assists 23 (Warren 5, Katie O'Neil 5); Digs 9.
Box Elder - Aces 12 (Codi Raining Bird 6, Ashley Parisian 3); Kills 15 (Tasha Parisian 4, Raining Bird 4); Assists 13 (Parisian 9); Digs 38 (Loni LaMere 19, Codi Raining Bird 19).
Chester def. Rocky Boy
25-15, 25-13, 25-22
Rocky Boy - Aces 14 (Loni Belcourt 6); Kills 12 (Belcourt 6); Assists 11 (Rainbow Stump 11); Blocks 6 (Jackie Rock 2), Digs 17 (Jamie Anderson 7).
Chester - Kills 16 (Shawnee Norick 7); Assists 14 (Keyla Wendland 7); Aces 15 (Norick 5), Blocks 10 (Brianne Wolfe 5).
Big Sandy def. Sunburst
25-19, 21-25, 27-25, 25-20
Big Sandy - Kills 27 (Shalayna Pearson 11); Aces 9 (Pearson 3, Jessica Amsbaugh 3); Assists 18 (Kacy Herron 8); Digs 22 (Mikki Hammons 7, Pearson 7).
Sunburst - Kills 30 (Rachel Kleinert 12); Aces 12 (Kendra Hovland 4, Kleinert 4); Assists 20 (Hovland 12); Digs 25 (Kleinert 7, Angela Tomsheck 7).
Blue Sky/J-I def. Rocky Boy
25-22, 25-18, 23-25, 25-18
Blue Sky/J-I - Kills 44 (Kaila Warren 24),; Assists 50 (Jourdon Han 23), Aces 23 (Warren 6); Digs 17 (Maia Aageson 5); Blocks 6 (Warren 2).
Rocky Boy - Kills 19 (Loni Belcourt 6); Assists 18 (Rainbow Stump 18); Aces 16 (Jamie Anderson 7); Digs 29 (Tori Belcourt 9); Blocks 8 (Erin Croncho 2, T. Belcourt 2).
Sunburst def. KG
25-13, 25-12, 25-20
KG - Kills 36 (Jodi Norman 9); Aces 9 (Whitney Hanson 5); Blocks 5 (Shea Haugen 1); Digs 8 (Natasha Dyrland 3).
Sunburst - Kills 23 (Cherry Tomsheck 8, Rachel Kleinert 5); Assists 17 (Kendra Hovland 7, Rachel Schulze 5); Aces 14 (Kendra Hovland 3, Kallie Johansen 3); Digs 14 (Angela Tomsheck 6, Rachel Kleinert 3); Blocks 3 (Rachel Schulze 1, C. Tomsheck 1, Kleinert 1)
