Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
Class C volleyball will have a new state champion this season. Chinook Sugarbeeters, the defending Class C state champions, finished fourth in the Northern C Divisional this weekend in Belt, eliminating the Beeters from a chance at defending their Class C crown. After losing in the quarterfinal round, the Beeters fought their way back into the second semifinal against Valier. But the Panthers, who finished third in the District 6C-West tournament a week ago, downed the Beeters by scores of 27-25, 25-21 and 25-17. The two teams battled to a 25-25 tie in the opening game, before Valier scored the two decisive points to give the Panthers the 27-25 win. After a crushing defeat in the first game, the Beeters never recovered dropping the next two games 25-21 and 25-17. The loss to the Panthers eliminated Chinook from the tournament. After a win over Geyser on Thursday, the Beeters took on unbeaten Simms in the quarterfinals. Chinook managed to steal the first game from Simms 25-23, but lost the next two in dominating fashion 25-9 and 25-12, before dropping the fourth game 25-20. Kayla Dugan had 10 kills and a block for the Beeters in the loss. The loss to Simms put Chinook in a loser-out match against 6-East rival Big Sandy Saturday morning. The meeting between Chinook and Big Sandy was the fourth in less than two weeks. The Pioneers cruised to a 25-14 win in the first game to give them the early advantage. However, it wouldn’t last long as the Beeters captured the second game 25-21 to even the match at a game apiece. Chinook won the pivotal third game 25-18 and closed out the match with a 25- 12 win in game four. Erin Eslick had eight kills and seven digs to lead Chinook. Dugan also amassed seven blocks in the win. Mariah Faber had six kills and Shersteen Cline added 10 digs, nine aces and two blocks for the Pioneers. Chester/J-I, the 6C-West runner-up was also eliminated at the hands of Valier. The Hawks fell to the Panthers in loser-out action by the scores of 25-17, 25-15 and 25-19. Hanna Pimley had 12 kills and a block in the loss. Molly Brown added 15 assists, six digs and an ace for the Hawks. C/J-I defeated Geyser earlier in loser-out action to stay alive in the tournament after the Hawks were defeated by Highwood in the opening round. The Hawks took the first game 25-20 to give them a 1-0 lead. The Hawks then completed a three-game sweep of the Wranglers by winning the next two games 25-13 and 25-21. Pimley had 13 kills and Brown also had 28 assists, four aces and two blocks to lead the way for the Hawks. In other loser-out action Big Sandy defeated North Star in a five-game thriller to eliminate the Knights after just two matches. North Star won the first game easily 25-14, but the Pioneers even the match up with a 25-16 in game two. The Knights pulled within a game of victory with a 25-22 win in the third game, but Big Sandy swept the final two games 25-13 and 15-6 to win the match. Cline had 11 kills and two aces to lead the Pioneers, while Natasha Dyrland notched 17 kills and five blocks in the loss for North Star. Simms captured first place at the tournament, and the Tigers will be a prohibitive favorite to capture the Class C state title this week in Bozeman. Simms has not lost a match this season. Highwood will be the other Northern C representative in Bozeman this weekend.
