HHS spikers seeking payback in Conrad

The 2014 season has been a bit of a struggle for the Havre High volleyball team. But, the great thing about high school sports is that it’s not how you start the season, it’s how you finish that matters.

The Ponies have played a brutal schedule and are currently just 2-11 but as they get set to face Conrad in a nonconference road game tonight in Conrad, HHS is hoping its finally turned a corner with the end of the season coming quickly.

The Ponies will also be looking to revenge on the Cowgirls, who came into the HHS gymnasium and knocked off Havre in a thrilling five-set match earlier this season.

“If we keep playing the way that we have been playing, I think we have a great chance,” HHS head coach Melanie Skoyen said. “If you look at even just a couple of weeks ago, we have really cut back on our hitting errors. When we played Laurel a couple weeks ago we had 22 hitting errors and against Great Falls last week we only had six. We have also really improved our serving errors and if we can keep that up, we will be a lot more competitive.”

Looking back on the Ponies’ loss to the Cowgirls early in the season, the biggest culprit according to Skoyen was the Havre defense, which surrendered 46 kills to Conrad, a statistic that is difficult to overcome.

“Our defense has improved so much since the first time we played Conrad,” Skoyen said. “The thing that Conrad really hurt us with were tips and that resulted in our loss. So, if we can just keep playing defense the way that we have been, I expect a much better outcome.”

Leading the way for Havre will be junior setter Dani Wagner, who is among the leaders in the Central A conference is kills and assists. Outside hitter Reggie Bernard, who is also among the Top 10 in the conference in kills, will also play a key role.

Jordyn Warren will be an important part of the Havre defense and is coming off a 17-dig performance in the Ponies’ win over Browning last Saturday.

Others that will contribute for HHS against Conrad will be Madison Huebsch, Naomi Terry, Sami Huston, Jacey McDonald, Megan Erickson and Carlene Rennick.

On the Conrad side of things, the key player will be Kristie Judisch, who dominated the previous match between these two teams with an incredible performance that included 23 kills and 17 digs. Andrea Russell was also very impressive in Havre with 27 digs and four blocks.

As the season winds down to a close, the Ponies will have just four more matches after their nonconference contest, and even though they have shown improvement, they will need to keep getting better if they plan on making noise at divisionals.

“I think some of the girls are finally starting to get what we are preaching at them,” Skoyen said. “We really improved so much in terms of our defense and our hitting percentages and if we can just keep getting better and improving, then I think we can get to where to need be by divisionals.”

After the Ponies take on the Cowgirls, they have will have six days off before they travel to Choteau for another nonconference match Oct. 16. Then, they will have three more conference matches before they participate in the divisional tournament, which will begin Nov. 7 in Browning.

Havre and Conrad will get things started tonight in Conrad at 7:30.