HHS spikers have strong showing at state A tournament

The 2003 high school volleyball season began with a lot of question marks surrounding a talented but inexperienced Havre High team. When things wrapped up for the Blue Ponies Friday night in Belgrade, a lot of questions had been answered and even more goals had been accomplished.

After dropping their opening match of the 2003 Class A state volleyball tournament to the Libby Loggers on Thursday, the Ponies rebounded by knocking off Eastern A champion Hardin on Friday morning in five thrilling games before bowing out of the tournament in Belgrade to a very tough Columbia Falls team in loser-out action Friday night.

"Even though we lost our last match to Columbia Falls, I am not at all disappointed," said HHS head coach Bill Huebsch. "I told the girls, especially our seniors, that I was very proud of all of them and that we have far exceeded anybody's expectations this season, including my own.

"Just to get here meant that this was a very successful season for us," Huebsch added. "But to come down here and play as well as we did against the caliber of teams in this state tournament is just huge for our team and for our program."

Despite the fact that the Ponies dropped their opening match to the highly touted Loggers, Huebsch said his team was playing very well coming into Friday morning's matchup with the Hardin Bulldogs. And that was very apparent as the Ponies rallied from being down at several critical points in the elimination match.

After being drilled in the opening game of the match 25-8, the Ponies rebounded to win game two 25-14 before dropping the critical third game by a score of 25-20. The Ponies had to come from behind in the early stages of the do-or-die fourth game before prevailing 25-17. And in game five the two teams reached several game points beginning with Havre leading at 14-13. Both teams then traded side-out points until Havre finally put the Bulldogs away in dramatic fashion at 22-20.

"That was one of the best matches of the tournament and it showed just what kind of a special team this was," Huebsch said. "It was just like against Anaconda in the divisional tournament, and these kids had the courage and determination to come back and find a way to win. It was amazing."

Kristi Owens paced the Ponies with a team-high 16 kills and Alexa Lipp added 40 assists. Kari Bolken also had another fine serving performance as she racked up seven of Havre's 14 aces.

With the win over the Bulldogs the Ponies were then eliminated from the state tournament by a red-hot Columbia Falls team by scores of 25-19, 25-20 and 25-17. Owens again led the charge for Havre with nine kills.

The Wildcats went on to finish third while Lewistown knocked off Libby to capture the Class A state championship.

"Our performance at this tournament is invaluable in the long run," Huebsch said. "We came here with nothing to lose and we played very well. We played two of the top three teams in this tournament very tough and I think that the win over Hardin shows that we have turned the corner as a program.

"The experience that our younger players gained from this tournament is so important for the future," Huebsch added. "This has just been a tremendous season for me as a coach and for this team."

Havre def. Hardin

8-25, 25-14, 20-25, 25-17, 22-20 (loser-out)

Havre - Kills 46 (Kristi Owens 16) Blocks 2 (Alicia Overcast, Ashley Hagen) Assists 42 (Alexa Lipp 40) Digs 49 (Alicia Overcast 13) Aces 14 (Kari Bolken 7)

Hardin - Kills 46 (Cassie Hodges 21) Blocks 6 (Hodges 2, Mallory Minnick 2) Assists 43 (Cadie Warren 38) Digs 63 (Sarah DeVore 15) Aces 16 (Cadie Warren 5)

Whitefish def. Billings Central

25-21, 25-15, 25-12 (loser-out)

Billings Central - Kills 20 (Lindsey Conroy 7) Assists 16 (Ali Cross 15) Digs 43 (Jennifer Reas 9, Kate Waage 9) Aces 4 (Kayla Stultz 2)

Whitefish - Kills 36 (Coreyanne Russell 10) Blocks; 5 (Tracy Schwada 4) Assists 33 (Brandie Buckless 19) Digs 41 (Allison Fey, Shalyn Aurand 9) Aces 6 (Fey, Mandy McFadden 2)

Columbia Falls def. Havre

25-19, 25-20, 25-17 (loser-out)

Havre - Kills 23 (Kristi Owen 9) Blocks 2 (Alicia Overcast, Kelsey Smith) Assists 22 (Alexa Lipp 21) Digs 43 (Overcast 12) Aces 4 (Not available)

Columbia Falls - Kills 39 (Sarah Hislop 12) Blocks 10 (Hislop 4) Assists 32 (Cealie Brumwell 31) Digs 62 (Cealie Brumwell 12) Aces 8 (Sunni Downing, Cealie Brumwell 3)

Whitefish def. Dillon

15-25, 25-22, 20-25, 28-26, 17-15 (loser-out)

Dillon - Kills 61 (Tiffany Stoddard 25) Blocks 11 (Tanya Lalicker 6) Assists 56 (Valory Monaco 52) Digs 88 (Theresa Bennett 23) Aces 13 (Bennett 6)

Whitefish - Kills 38 (Fey 13) Blocks 10 (Schwada 5) Assists 29 (Buckless 17) Digs 51 (Fey 12) Aces 14 (Fey 4)

Lewistown def. Libby

25-18, 25-19, 25-22 (undefeated semifinal)

Libby - Kills 34 (Nicole Rowan 12) Blocks 6 (Ashell Curtis 3) Assists 30 (Erin Botham 30) Digs 34 (Anika Spencer 10) Aces 6 (Anna Byrns 2, Spencer 2, Rowan 2)

Lewistown - Kills 34 (Lesly Richter 14) Blocks 6 (Claire Slagel 2, Richter 2) Assists 29 (Lauren Tognetti 29) Digs 54 (Richter 12) Aces 11 (Shaylynn Conroy 4)

Columbia Falls def. Whitefish

17-25, 25-13, 25-13, 25-15

(loser-out, Whitefish finishes 4th)

Whitefish - Kills 29 (Allison Fey 10) Assists 26 (Brandie Buckless 14) Aces 5 (Mandy McFadden 2, Coreyanne Russell 2) Digs 58 (Fey 18) Blocks 2 (Fey 1, Russell 1)

Columbia Falls - Kills 42 (Shannon Anderson 10, Ashley Lampman 10) Assists 31 (Cealie Brumwell 27) Aces 17 (Sarah Hislop 7) Digs 37 (Sunni Downing 9, Anderson 9) Blocks 6 (Lampman 3)

Libby def. Columbia Falls

25-12, 27-25, 25-18

(semifinal/loser-out, Col. Falls finishes 3rd)

Libby - Kills 28 (Nicole Rowan 9) Assists 24 (Erin Botham 23) Aces 7 (Anika Spencer 3) Digs 40 (Rowan 11) Blocks 9 (Ashell Curtiss 4)

Columbia Falls - Kills 21 (Sunni Downing 5) Assists 19 (Cealie Brumwell 19) Aces 5 (Downing 2) Digs 52 (Brumwell 16) Blocks 10 (Ashley Lampman 5)

Lewistown def. Libby

25-19, 25-21, 15-25, 17-25, 18-16 (championship)

Libby - Kills 48 (Ashell Curtiss 11, Anika Spencer and Kelli Brumbaugh 10) Assists 40 (Erin Bothman 38) Aces 11 (Nicole Rowan 6, Brumbaugh 4) Blocks 8 (Curtiss 6) Digs 66 (Spencer 19, Rowan 11)

Lewistown - Kills 48 (Lesly Richter 18, Shaylynn Conroy 14) Assists 44 (Lauren Tognetti 41) Aces 5 (Richter, Conroy 2) Blocks 7 (Tognetti, Richter, Kayla Horacek 2) Digs 72 (Tognetti, Richter 17)