George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
The high school volleyball season is only two weeks old. But teams up and down the Hi-Line are finding out plenty about themselves already. Tournaments were the story of the weekend on the Hi-Line as both Chinook and North Star played host to big, early season events. At the North Star Showcase, District 6C teams North Star, Box Elder, Hays-Lodge Pole and Rocky Boy were among a group of talented Class C and B teams that battled it out on the court for two days in Rudyard and Gildford. Pool play started on Friday and ran through Saturday morning. In pool play, the Knights went a perfect 5-0 on their home floor, while Box Elder went 1-4 in the same pool. In the Gildford Pool, Rocky Boy was 2-3 and HLP was 0-5. Only North Star advanced to the single elimination tournament on Saturday. Once there, the Knights beat Dutton-Brady in two games, but fell short of the championship match after losing to Highwood in two games. The Mountaineers went on to win the tournament by beating Class B Fort Benton in the title match. Meanwhile, in Chinook, the Sugarbeeters put on a difficult Chinook Invitational that featured some of the top teams in Class B as well as the Beeters and Northern C power Chester/ J-I. On Saturday in Chinook, Class B Fairfield beat Cut Bank in three games to take the team title. Glasgow finished third and Conrad was fourth, making it an all Class B sweep in the tournament's final four. Chinook beat Valier in the first round of the tourney on Saturday morning, before losing to Cut Bank 2-0 in the quarterfinals. Chester/J-I lost in the first round, 2-0 to Class B power Malta, but rebounded to beat Chinook 2-1, eliminating the Sugarbeeters from the tournament. The Hawks were taken out by Glasgow 2-1 in the very next loser-out match. Also on Saturday in a tournament in Lewistown, the Havre High junior varsity team went through pool play before losing to Winifred in the first round of the single-elimination tournament. The HHS freshmen team lost 2-1 to Belgrade in the championship match of the freshmen tourney in Lewistown.
