HHS spikers drop a pair in Lewistown

Saturday was not kind to the Havre High volleyball team. The Ponies dropped a pair of conference matches to Livingston and Lewistown in a Central A triangular meet held at the Fergus High Gymnasium.

"We just didn't get it done this weekend," said head coach Lacy Anderson. "We didn't play badly in either match, but we made a lot of mistakes that cost us points in crucial situations. We also didn't seem to have a lot of intensity in either match as well."

In the first match of the day, the Ponies fell to the Livingston Rangers by scores of 24-26, 25-11, 25-17 and 25-17.

The Ponies had the lead in a tightly contested first game. And, according to Anderson, if her team could have cut back on errors, it could have won that game and possibly the match.

"That first game was a tough one because we were leading for a while," Anderson said. "We just made a ton of errors on crucial points and that killed us in the end."

Anderson attributes her team's inability to finish key points as another factor in the loss.

"We played well in all four games of that match, but we just couldn't finish off the big points," Anderson said.

Havre committed 57 total errors in the match and lost the three games by a total of 18 points.

"If you cut those errors down to half that many, we win that match pretty easily," Anderson said.

The Ponies were led by Jeanna McPherson with 14 kills and six blocks. Sara Suek added nine kills and eight digs and Kari Bolken contributed 15 assists in the losing effort. Livingston was paced by Shannon Bosley with 10 kills and one block.

"I didn't think that Livingston was even a threat to us," Anderson said. "But when you make that many errors and you don't finish every point, that is what happens sometimes."

It didn't get much better in the second match of the day. Havre was beaten by Lewistown 25-22, 25-16 and 25-15. The Ponies also suffered more than the loss. Star hitter Suek left the match due to a severely sprained ankle in the second game of the match.

"Again, we committed a ton of errors," Anderson said. "We were sitting really good in the first game, but we just made way too many errors and it killed us."

"We were right there with them but just couldn't put the ball away when we needed to," Anderson added.

It was the third time this season that Havre has lost to Lewistown.

Havre committed a total 40 errors against the Eagles, and lost by a combined total of 22 points.

McPherson led the way for Havre with 11 kills and two blocks. Alicia Overcast chipped in with five blocks and Kelsey Smith had an ace. Lewistown got 16 kills from Lesly Richter and 14 kills from Alicia Manning in the victory. Suek was on crutches following the match and her status for this weekend is questionable at best.

The losses drop the Ponies to 4-3 in the Central A Conference and 7-8 overall.

"I thought the girls actually played pretty well," Anderson said. "But the mistakes and the lack of intensity really hurt us."

The Ponies will travel to Chinook for a nonconference match with the 'Beeters on Thursday night. On Saturday, Havre will visit Class AA Great Falls High.