Havre volleyball team wins divisional crown

The Havre High Blue Ponies used tough net play and strong hitting at last weekend's divisional tournament in Anaconda to come away undefeated and with the first-place trophy.

Jeanna McPherson led the Ponies with 11.5 stuff blocks on the weekend, on a team that totaled 40. As a team, Havre hit .223 on the weekend, with Sara Suek at .366, Jayla McPherson at .311 and Amy Ranes at .214.

"That is wonderful, that is so wonderful," Havre head coach Lacy Anderson said. "Our net presence was so incredible this weekend."

Ranes also topped the stats with a 98 percentage for serving, having only missed one serve on the weekend. Taylor Donaldson also only missed one serve for 97 percent.

The Ponies had 236 total digs for the tournament, with Julie Wagner leading with 53. Donaldson followed with 43.

"We were really aggressive," Anderson said. "They read the ball pretty well."

The Ponies started their title run with a four-game win over Dillon, 11-15, 15-10, 16-14, 15-6. Next up for Havre was Belgrade and it looked at first as if Belgrade were going to win. The Panthers took the first two games 15-1, 15-0 and led 7-0 in the third game before the Ponies came back to win 15-13, 15-13, 15-13.

Facing Park in the semifinals, a team that had beaten Havre fairly easily the weekend before, the Ponies came out strong and won 15-13, 15-5, 15-13.

Park battled back through the consolation bracket to meet up with Havre again in the championship game. There the Ponies won 15-7, 15-6, 15-13 to take the divisional title and the first-place ranking going into state this coming weekend in Columbia Falls.

Look for more from results from the Central A Divisional Volleyball Tournament in Tuesday's Havre Daily News.