George Ferguson Havre Daily News sports editor gferguson@havredailynews.com
For years now, the Northern C has easily been the toughest division in all of Class C volleyball. The division has produced three of the last four Class C state champions, and this season may not be any different. But none of the District 6C East teams which made it to the last weekend's Northern C tournament in Belt will get the chance to play for a state title this week in Bozeman. North Star, Big Sandy and Chinook, all which qualified for divisionals from the 6C East, all were eliminated from the Northern C before reaching the state tournament. Big Sandy, which finished second at the 6C East tourney, went the farthest in Belt. The Pioneers beat Valier by scores of 25-21, 25-20 and 25-18 in Thursday's opening round. Suzy Faber paced the Pioneers with 14 kills, while Quartnee Owen had 18 digs and 21 aces. Meanwhile, Thursday was not as kind to Northern C favorite North Star. The Knights lost to Fort Benton in the first round by scores of 25-11, 25-12 and 25-22. In the loss, Britnee Dyrland had eight kills and Kali Twedt had thee blocks. Chinook also dropped into the loserout bracket on Thursday morning. The Sugarbeeters lost to Geraldine in four games by scores of 25-14, 25-14, 22-25 and 25-15. And what turned out to be a long Thursday for the Beeters got even longer, as North Star rebounded from its opening-round loss by ending Chinook's season in loser-out play Thursday night. The Knights took care of Chinook in a hard-fought four-game match by scores of 19-25, 25-12, 25-22 and 29-27. Sarah Helmbrecht had 11 kills and Bridjour Han had five aces as the Knights extended their season. In their final match of the year, the Beeters got eight kills and a block from Taryn Norby, while Katie Diemert added 22 assists. In Friday's quarterfinal round, Big Sandy suffered its first loss of the tournament, falling to 6C West power Sunburst by scores of 25-8, 25-18 and 25-20. The Pioneers were led by Amber Amsbaugh with seven kills, 10 blocks and two aces. Meanwhile, in a loser-out match Friday, the host Belt Huskies brought North Star's season to an end, and later on Friday night, the Huskies did the same to the Pioneers. Belt beat North Star by scores of 25- 11, 25-10, 19-25 and 25-16. Sarah Helmbrecht had 13 kills and five blocks for the Knights, while Jordan Spicher added eight digs. Later on Friday, Belt beat the Pioneers by scores of 25-14, 24-26, 25-23 and 25-19, eliminating them from the tournament. In their final match of the year, the Pioneers were paced by Faber with 12 kills and 15 blocks, while Mariah Gullickson 26 digs and four aces. The Northern C field finally was narrowed down to 6C West rivals Simms and Sunburst on Saturday night. The unbeaten Tigers beat the Refiners in the championship match, and both teams will move on to this week's Class C state tournament in Bozeman.
