George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
With district and divisional tournaments now less than a month away, every volleyball match across the Hi- Line is becoming extremely pivotal. And this past weekend was no exception to that. On Friday night, the Chinook Sugarbeeters continued their winning ways by going into Sunburst and picking up an important four-game Northern C win. The Beeters split the first two games with the Refiners by scores of 25-21 and 24-26. But in game three, Chinook asserted its dominance and rolled to a convincing 25-14 win. The Beeters finished off Sunburst 25-17 in the fourth game. Kayla Dugan, Cheyanne Hamilton and Sarah Harshman all had important contributions to the Beeters’ win. Dugan had 12 kills and three blocks, and Hamilton added 11 kills. Harshman chipped in with three aces and 16 assists. On Saturday night, Chinook returned home to face off against Northern C power Valier. And Chinook poured on more of the same by handing the Panthers a difficult straight-set loss. Chinook cruised to the win by scores of 25-21, 25-13 and 25-22. Erin Eslick racked up 12 kills for Chinook, and Dugan added three blocks and three aces. Brittany McLean was also solid, notching 19 assists and 10 digs. The Beeters continue to lead the District 6C East standings. Meanwhile, in Gildford on Saturday night, the Chester/J-I Hawks kept their winning ways alive with a straight-set victory over former district rival North Star. The Hawks jumped out to wins in the first two games by scores of 25-19 and 25-20. Chester/J-I then buried the Knights by taking a big lead in game three en route to a 25-17 victory and a three-game sweep. Hannah Pimley paced C/J-I offensively with 12 kills and a block. Jessica VanDyke added seven kills, seven digs and a solo block. The Knights 12 kills and a block from Natasha Dyrland and 11 kills and a block from Jourdan Han. C/J-I also downed Rocky Boy Thursday night in three easy games. The In that match, the Hawks got 12 kills from Pimley and 10 from Jackie Alisch. The Morning Stars were paced by Tori Belcourt’s four kills and seven blocks. After the weekend, the Hawks are still in second place in the District 6C West standings behind Simms. North Star is in third place in the 6C East. Saturday night also saw the Big Sandy Pioneers pull off a huge win against a Northern C contender at home. The Pioneers defeated Geraldine in a four-game thriller by scores of 25- 17, 25-21, 20-25 and 26-24. Shersteen Cline had a fine all-around match for Big Sandy. Cline had 10 kills, five blocks and three aces to lead the Pioneers. Josi Herron had 21 of the Pioneers’ 26 assists. The Box Elder Bears picked a pair of much-needed road wins on Saturday, sweeping the host Heart Butte Warriors in a doubleheader. In the first match of the day, the Bears swept the warriors by scores of 25-17, 25-10 and 25-20. Rokki Parker paced Box Elder in the easy win with four kills and a solo block. Box Elder also got two digs and two aces from Helen Russette. The Bears didn’t let up in the second match of the day, defeating the Warriors in three games again, this time by scores of 25-12, 25-18 and 27-25. Parker paced Box Elder offensively with eight kills and five service aces. Russette added five digs.
