ON TO STATE: Ponies finish 4th

The Eastern A divisional volleyball tournament is over, and when the dust settled inside the Havre High gymnasium, the Havre Blue Ponies were one of four teams to make it to state.

The Blue Ponies fought the long road to earn their ticket to state after the opening-round loss to Hardin on Thursday, and will represent the Eastern A as the No. 4 seed in Bozeman this weekend.

Havre had to go through two other teams, the Lewistown Golden Eagles and the Laurel Locomotives to stay alive.

The Ponies faced off against the familiar Northeast A rival at Friday morning and swept the Eagles by scores of 25-20, 25-18 and 25-20. HHS head coach Tamecia Jarvis was proud of her team's work in that game.

"It feels good that we came in today (Friday) and we were ready to go," Jarvis said after the Lewistown match. "I think the girls were a little bit nervous (Thursday), but I think we got it out of our system and played great today."

Havre commanded most of the match against Lewistown. The Ponies went on a 6-0 run to take the lead early in the first set 9-5, then a 5-0 run later to keep the lead 18-11. Havre did not run much after that but kept the Eagles from getting too close. The Ponies claimed the first set and the match lead 1-0.

In the second set, Havre went on a 3-0 run early to lead 7-5, but the score eventually tied up at 11-11. The Blue Ponies followed with a 4-0 run to lead 15-13, but Lewistown answered enough to keep it close. Another 4-0 run later in the set kept Havre ahead and it continued that way. The Ponies lead the match 2-0.

The third set started off tight. The Eagles went on a 3-0 run, but Havre responded with a 4-0 run to lead 10-8. The two teams went back-and-forth for a bit, but the Ponies went on a 5-0 run to lead 18-11. Lewistown tried to keep it close, but a 4-0 run by Havre and a senior Cassidy Acor kill cemented the sweep for the Ponies 3-0.

HHS then went on and played Laurel Friday evening in another do-or-die match. The Blue Ponies fought to the end against the Locomotives and won the match by scores 25-20, 25-19, 25-23, 25-11 and 15-06.

Jarvis was excited to see her team come away with a hard-fought win and punch a ticket to state.

"I feel great," said Jarvis. "When we were down, they came back and fought. They did a great job and we're just so excited. It was awesome to watch."

Havre and Laurel battled tooth-and-nail in the first set. The Locomotives took the lead early 7-5, but a 3-0 run from the Ponies gave them the lead 8-7. From there, Laurel led again 12-8. Havre followed with a 4-0 run to tie it up and a lot of back-and-forth ensued. After some quick runs by the Ponies and a Cassidy Acor kill to seal it, they took the lead 1-0.

The second and third sets belonged to Laurel, who went on multiple runs and took advantage of mistakes by Havre. The Locomotives went on four separate runs to stay ahead constantly, including a big 7-0 run in the third set to lead the match 2-1.

That's when the Blue Ponies showed how dangerous they can be.

After the score was tied 5-5 in the fourth set, Havre went on a monstrous 12-0 run to soar into the lead 17-5. Laurel tried to answer, but the Ponies went on a late 4-0 run to rip the match victory from the Locomotives 2-2. In the set, seniors Sam Oliver, Jessa Chvilicek, and Acor put on a show for the crowd and did not stop in the fifth.

The final set once again was all HHS. After Laurel lead the match 6-3, the Blue Ponies sealed the match victory 3-2 by going on a 11-0 run, once again finished on an Acor kill. A win from a thriller in five-sets was big for Havre and the Ponies were heading to state.

With the victory over Laurel, Havre faced Hardin in a rematch with a chance to continue moving forward. Unfortunately, the Ponies fell to the Bulldogs again 3-1, by scores of 25-15, 25-16, 25-22 and 25-15.

After another loss to Hardin, Jarvis has some things that she and her team will look to adjust before heading to Bozeman.

"I would like to fix our self-doubt," said Jarvis. "I think we need to have more confidence in ourselves. The girls get on themselves too quickly and if they make a mistake they just have to forget about it."

All four sets were close. Havre took the first set with three separate runs. Havre went on a 4-0 run early, a 5-0 run in the middle of the set and a 6-0 run ending with an Acor block to lead the match 1-0.

The next three sets were all Hardin. The Bulldogs broke out on multiple runs and once again capitalized on Blue Pony mishaps to win the three sets. After Hardin tied the match 1-1, the Bulldogs and Ponies fought a tough third set. But, three consecutive Havre mistakes late in the set gave Hardin the match lead 2-1. The fourth set was all Hardin needed to win the match and move on, as the Bulldogs went on a 5-0 run late in the set to win 3-1.

HHS ended the divisional tournament with some big numbers. The Ponies racked up 106 kills, 94 assists, 234 digs, 20 blocks and 19 aces throughout the three matches Havre played.

The Blue Ponies took the No. 4 seed in the divisional tournament and will play the West's No. 1 seed, Corvallis, in the Class A state volleyball tournament Thursday. Billings Central won the Eastern A title over Glendive Saturday afternoon, while Hardin was third.

Havre def. Lewistown, LO

25-20, 25-18, 25-20

HAV – Kills 31 (Jessa Chvilicek 09, Quinn McDonald 07, Sam Oliver 06), Assists 25 (Peyton Brown 25), Digs 44 (Sam Oliver 10, Peyton Brown 09, Ellie Collins 08), Blocks 04 (Jessa Chvilicek 2.5, Cassidy Acor 2.5, Quinn McDonald 01) Aces 10 (Ellie Collins 03, Jessa Chvilicek 03).

LEW – stats were not reported.

Havre def. Laurel, LO

25-20, 19-25, 23-25, 25-11, 15-6

HAV – Kills 40 (Jessa Chvilicek 16, Cassidy Acor 12, Sam Oliver 05, Quinn McDonald 05), Assists 38 (Peyton Brown 35), Digs 96 (Sam Oliver 23, Sydney Wilting 19, Peyton Brown 18), Blocks 12 (Cassidy Acor 4.5, Jessa Chvilicek 03) Aces 06 (Jessa Chvilicek 03, Peyton Brown 02).

LAU – Kills 39 (Keeli Harris 10, Paige Maynard 09), Assists 36 (Sophia Timm 26, Symphony Fike 10), Digs 98 (Keeli Harris 31, Madison Zuniga 29, Symphony Fike 15), Blocks 05 (Paige Maynard 03, Sophia Timm 01, Symphony Fike 01), Aces 09 (Bailey Graves 02, Symphony Fike 02, Keeli Harris 02).

Hardin def. Havre

25-15, 16-25, 22-25, 15-25

HAV – Kills 35 (Cassidy Acor 12, Jessa Chvilicek 09, Talia Ralph 08), Assists 31 (Peyton Brown 31), Digs 94 (Sam Oliver 27, Sydney Wilting 20, Ellie Collins 12), Blocks 04 (Cassidy Acor 1.5) Aces 03 (Sydney Wilting 02).

HAR – Kills 41 (Alyssa Pretty Weasel 13, Nicole Green 11), Assists 36 (Natalie Edgar 31), Digs 70 (Jonna Lind 18, Nicole Green 14), Blocks 6.5 (Lefaye Russell 2.5), Aces 07 (Nicole Green 03, Natalie Edgar 02).