By Ryan Divish/Havre Daily News Sports Editor/rdivish@havredailynews.com
Conference volleyball action heated up around the Hi-Line as local teams begin the season-long process to get to the district tournaments.
In District 6C action, the Chester Coyotes, Blue Sky/J-I Eagles and the Sunburst Refiners continue to stay near the top of the conference standings with solid weekends.
The Coyotes picked up a pair of wins over Big Sandy and KG.
On Thursday, Chester rolled into the Big Sandy gymnasium and strolled out with a 25-15, 25-19, 25-23 win.
Chester got a solid all-around performance from Shawnee Norick. The senior middle blocker picked eight digs, six aces and five kills in the match. Brianne Wolfe added six aces in the win.
Big Sandy was led by the Pearsons. Raynee Pearson had six kills and an ace, while Shalayna Pearson added eight kills and three blocks.
The Coyotes scored their second win of the weekend with a 25-13, 25-21, 25-16 win over the KG KouGars. Norick led Chester again, this time notching nine kills, five aces, four digs and three blocks. Keyla Wendland picked up 13 assists in the win.
KG was led by Britta Umbach with 11 digs. Whitney Hanson added seven assists for the KouGars
Blue Sky/J-I completed a sweep of the same teams to match the Coyotes.
The Eagles needed four games to take care of KG, 25-9, 22-25, 25-7, 25-19. Blue Sky/J-I was led by the duo of Kaila Warren and Hannah Pimley. Warren banged out 14 kills and added six digs, while Pimley added 11 kills and two blocks.
On Monday, the Eagles took care of Big Sandy, 25-21, 25-17, 29-27.
Warren racked up nine kills, three aces and four digs to lead Blue Sky/J-I. Jourdon Han had a good balanced effort with seven kills, four digs and two assists.
In other Thursday action, Rocky Boy picked up a 25-23, 26-24,25-21 non-conference win over the Harlem Wildcats. Harlem bounced back with a 25-12, 25-10, 25-15 over Hays-Lodge Pole. The Wildcats were led by Diana First Raised with five kills. Amy Stiffarm added three aces, two digs and a block.
On Friday, Sunburst picked up a sweep over Box Elder and Rocky Boy. The Refiners opened with a 25-14, 25-21, 25-18 win over the Bears. Rachel Kleinert and Cherry Tomscheck combined for 10 aces and seven digs.
Box Elder got six kills and two blocks from Rocky Parker in the loss.
Sunburst completed the sweep with a 25-12, 25-18, 25-21 win over the Morning Stars.
The Refiners got a combined 22 kills from Kleinert and Tomscheck. Kendra Hovland added 15 assists
Rocky Boy was led by Tori Belcourt with 12 digs, four kills and a block. Sister, Loni Belcourt, added four kills and three aces.
Elsewhere on Saturday, the Malta Mustangs roughed up the Harlem Wildcats, 25-17, 25-17, 25-18 in Harlem.
Whitney Jones paced the Mustangs with 10 kills. Diana First Raised had four kills to lead the Wildcats. Melinda Cochran added six assists.
In Chinook, the District 1B-leading Sugarbeeters scored a 25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21 win over the Shelby Coyotes.
Chinook got 10 kills and four blocks from Whitney Lybeck in the win. Crystal Roseberry dished out 20 assists, while Monica Thackeray added 16 digs.
Chester def. Big Sandy
25-15, 25-19, 25-23
Chester - Kills 20 (Shawnee Norick 5, Joanna Lasorte 5); Assists 16 (Lasorte 8); Digs 26 (Norick 8), Aces 20 (Norick 6); Blocks 9 (Brianne Wolfe 6)
Big Sandy - Kills 20 (Shalayna Pearson 8, Raynee Pearson 6); Assists 16 (Kacy Herron 6, Mikki Hammons 6); Digs 18 (Herron 5, Jessica Amsbaugh 5), Aces 3 (R. Pearson 1, Amsbaugh 1, Sadie Faber 1); Blocks 4 (S. Pearson 3)
Rocky Boy def. Harlem
25-23, 26-24,25-21
Rocky Boy - no stats available
Harlem - Kills (Marty Rae Stiffarm 9); Assists (Leandra Thomas 3); Digs (Melinda Courchane 8), Aces (Amy Stiffarm 5, Danielle Dirden 5)
Blue Sky/J-I def. KG
25-9, 22-25, 25-7, 25-19
Blue Sky/J-I - Kills 40 (Kaila Warren 14, Hannah Pimley 11); Assists 32 (Jourdon Han 10); Digs 21 (Warren 6, Sadie Patrick 6), Aces 13 (Pimley 4, Maia Aageson 3); Blocks 8 (Pimley 2, Megan Warren 2)
KG - no stats available
Harlem def. Hays-Lodge Pole
25-12, 25-10, 25-15
Harlem - Kills (Diana First Raised 5); Digs (Amy Stiffarm 2), Aces (Marty Rae Stiffarm 3, Amy Stiffarm 3); Blocks (Amy Stiffarm 1)
Hays Lodge Pole - no stats available
Sunburst def. Box Elder
25-14, 25-21, 25-18
Box Elder - Kills 15 (Rocky Parker 6); Assists 11 (Ashley Parisian 6, Ventura Campbell 5); Digs 36 (Loni LaMere 7, Tasha Parisian 7), Aces 3 (Codi Raining Bird); Blocks 3 (Parker 2)
Sunburst - Kills 24 (Rachel Kleinert 5, Cherry Tomscheck 5); Assists 14 (Rachel Schultz 6, Kendra Hovland 5); Digs 17 (Kleinert 4, Tomscheck 3), Aces 10 (Ronnie Witt 3, Kleinert 3); Blocks 3 (three tied with 1)
KG def. Havre JV
13-25, 25-18, 25-21, 19-25, 15-9
KG - Kills 28 (Natasha Dyrland 17); Assists 21 (Whitney Hanson 16); Digs 16 (Jodi Norman 6), Aces 22 (Hanson 12);
Havre JV - Kills 34 (Katy Dow 10); Assists 25 (Larissa Hand 23); Digs 13 (Hand 4, Kaci Owens 4), Aces 15 (Michelle Armstrong 5, Dow 4); Blocks 7 (Armstrong 3)
Chester def. KG
25-13, 25-21, 25-16
KG - Kills 13 (Jodi Norman 3); Assists 8 (Whitney Hanson 7); Digs 42 (Britta Umbach 11), Aces 10 (Kendra Donoven 2); Blocks 7 (Natasha Dyrland 5)
Chester - Kills 31 (Shawnee Norick 9); Assists 25 (Keyla Wendland 13); Digs 17 (Norick 4), Aces 16 (Norick 5); Blocks 5 (Norick 3)
Malta def. Harlem
25-17, 25-17, 25-18
Malta - Kills 26 (Whitney Jones 10); Assists 17 (Whitney Graft 10); Digs 25 (Brittany Allen 7), Aces 26 (Shilo Lundstrom 5, Sarah King 5); Blocks 6 (Jones 2)
Harlem - Kills 12 (Diana First Raised 4); Assists 17 (Melinda Cochran 6); Digs 18 (Ashley Kennedy 4), Aces 12 (Marty Rae Stiffarm); Blocks 1 (Leandra Thomas)
Sunburst def. Rocky Boy
25-12, 25-18, 25-21
Rocky Boy - Kills 15 (Loni Belcourt 4, Francis Eagleman 4, Tori Belcourt 4); Assists 8 (Rainbow Stump 7); Digs 23 (Tori Belcourt 12,Jackie Rock 8), Aces 10 (Tiffany Houle 3, Loni Belcourt 3); Blocks 1 (Tori Belcourt 1)
Sunburst - Kills 32 (Rachel Kleinert 13, Cherry Tomscheck 9); Assists 26 (Kendra Hovland 15, Rachel Schulze 5); Digs 8 (Ronnie Whitt 2, Kleinert 2), Aces 12 (Hovland 4, Kleinert 4); Blocks 1 (Kleinert 1)
Chinook def. Shelby
25-22, 22-25, 25-20, 25-21
Shelby - Kills 21 (M. Buyske 6); Assists 19 (M. Hermance 10); Digs 19 (l. Alvestad 4), Aces 6 (B. Jackson 3); Blocks 8 (Buyske 8).
Chinook - Kills 38 (Whitney Lybeck 10); Assists 27 (Crystal Roseberry 20); Digs 41 (Monica Thackeray 16), Aces 9 (Morgan Obie 5); Blocks 9 (Lybeck 4).
Blue Sky/J-I def. Big Sandy
25-21, 25-17, 29-27
Big Sandy - Kills 17 (Raynee Pearson 5, Shalayna Pearson 4); Assists 11 (Kacy Herron 9); Digs 60 (Kay Herron 13, R. Pearson 11, Jessica Amsbaugh 11), Aces 6 (Mikki Hammons 2, Amsbaugh 2); Blocks 2 (R. Pearson 2)
Blue Sky/J-I - Kills 30 (Kaila Warren 9, Jourdon Han 7); Assists 22 (Han 2, Megan Warren 2); Digs 15 (Han 4, K. Warren 4), Aces 9 (K. Warren 3, Maia Aageson 3); Blocks 14 (Katie O'Neil 3)
