Choteau spoils Havre volleyball home debut

The Havre High volleyball team may not have won its home opener Saturday against Choteau, but after nearly rallying from a 2-0 deficit, the Blue Ponies at least put on an exciting show for their fans.

After dropping the first two games to the Bulldogs, the Ponies won the next two and fought valiantly until the end before losing in five sets, by the scores of 25-22, 25-15, 24-26, 18-25, 15-8.

“We played OK,” HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis said. “The guys played hard and they really competed. We did hit the ball better, but there are still things that we need to do better.”

Early on, the Ponies were not ready to compete with Choteau, a traditional Class B power in volleyball, and it showed. The Bulldogs built a double-digit lead in the first set, before eventually winning by 10 points. In the second set, it was a similar story for Havre, as the Bulldogs jumped ahead early.

Yet, a rally by the Ponies gave them the lead and after an ace by Paige Nelson, the Ponies led 10-7. But the Bulldogs would answer and they would go on a big run to reclaim the lead and edged out HHS to win the set 25-22.

Havre fell behind again in the third game, but this time, the Ponies battled back to overtake the Bulldogs. Ceyara Plante put Havre ahead 20-19 with a kill late in the game and an ace by Naomi Terry made it 23-21. Finally, a block by Jacey McDonald got Havre the 26-24 win, forcing a fourth set.

Down two games to one, the Ponies came out hot and built a 12-8 lead early thanks to a pair of kills by Claire Worm. Choteau battled back to take the lead at 17-16, but a 7-0 run by Havre made it 23-17 in favor of HHS. The Ponies hung on for the 25-18, pushing the match to a fifth set.

But in the fifth set, Choteau jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back. Havre trimmed the lead down to 10-7, yet the Bulldogs scored five of the next six points to take the win.

“We just have to keep making sure that we are doing the little things and playing together,” Jarvis said. “We can’t have serving errors and other little mistakes. We need to get those things cleaned up. I am proud of how we fought back, but I am still a little disappointed, and we will just get back to work at practice on some of these things.”

Terry had a stellar performance in the loss for Havre, finishing with 22 assists and five aces. McDonald also put forth a huge effort, with eight kills and 5.5 blocks. Nelson added eight kills and Worm, had 26 digs, while Katie Donaldson had 22.

The Ponies will be home Thursday against CMR.

Choteau def. Havre

25-15, 25-22, 24-26, 18-25, 15-8

Choteau – Aces 7 (Cassidy Krone 2); Kills 60 (Megan Krone 21); Assists 51 (C. Krone); Blocks 7 (M. Krone 3); Digs 67 (Sophie King 13).

Havre – Aces 13 (Naomi Terry 5); Kills 30 (Paige Nelson 8, Jacey McDonald 8, Ceyara Plante 7); Assists 23 (Terry 22); Blocks 9 (McDonald 5.5); Digs 79 (Claire Worm 26, Katie Donaldson 22).