George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
It was a light week for volleyball along the Hi-Line, but several important conference matches took place this weekend, and there was plenty of excitement in gymnasiums all over the area. Chinook played twice over the weekend, starting with a difficult Friday night loss to the Valier Panthers at home. The two Northern C rivals played a thrilling five-set match with Valier fi- nally putting the Sugarbeeters away, 15-6 in the final game. After dropping the first game to the Beeters 31-29, the Panthers rallied to win games two and three. But Chinook showed its toughness, bouncing back in game four by the score of 25-19 to force a decisive fifth game. Alyssa Brown led the way for Chinook in the loss with five kills and 11 of Chinook's 76 digs. Kelsie Hanson added 22 assists in the match. Friday night also saw a pair of local teams engage in a five-set marathon match as North Star knocked off Northern C rival Chester/J-I in a marathon match, by scores of 20-25, 28-26, 25-17, 21-25 and 15-11. The Hawks rallied from two games down and were behind in game four, but the Knights had the final answer by winning the dramatic fifth game. Britnee Dyrland led the Knights with seven kills and a pair of blocks, while Shelby Beaudry and Mariana Jochim each totaled 15 assists. C/J-I got a match-high 10 kills by Larissa Lybeck, while Lexi Lybeck had 23 assists. Big Sandy also picked up an important District 6C East victory on the road Friday night at Rocky Boy. The Pioneers swept the Morning Stars in three games by scores of 25-15, 25-22 and 25-19. Suzy Faber paced the Pioneers with seven kills and three blocks, while Rocky Boy got five kills and three blocks from DaiShawn Whitford in the loss. The Pioneers returned to the road on Saturday night and swept the Hays- Lodge Pole Thunderbirds in three games by scores of 25-14, 25-20 and 25-16. Amber Amsbaugh and Sierra Briese had six kills each for Big Sandy, and Briese tallied six service aces. Josi Herron also had 19 assists in the victory. Chinook had a bounce-back match on Saturday. One night after losing a heartbreaker to Valier, the Beeters crushed 6C East rival Box Elder in three games. Chinook swept the match by scores of 26-24, 25-12 and 25-10. Kelsie Hanson paced Chinook with five assists and three aces, while Larissa Baird had a pair of blocks. Box Elder got five assists and three aces from Kaycee Henry.
