Blue Ponies' home debut will be a special one

After splitting the weekend on the road, the Havre High volleyball team will be splitting the upcoming weekend in a different way. Instead of going on the road and splitting the games, the Blue Ponies will be splitting the weekend by having a road-game and a home-game.

Starting off with the Miles City Cowgirls Friday at 7 p.m., Havre will hit the road to play in Miles City to continue the road-gauntlet that has started off their 2020 season, followed by a senior night showdown with the Class B Shelby Coyotes Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Havre High Gymnasium.

Northeastern A Miles City opens up the weekend for the Ponies and Havre head coach Steph Huse is excited to go up against the Cowgirls.

"Miles City will be another competitive match for us," Huse said. "It's our fourth road trip in two weeks, so it's definitely going to be a good challenge for us to hit the road again. Miles City has some very good players that we'll match up against."

The Blue Pony spikers will be heading into the weekend with a passion to play some more games against some great teams. There are plenty of talented Havre athletes who will take the court, including juniors Maddie Columbus and Alyssa Oliver and sophomores Molly Huse, Yelena Miller and Avery Carlson, who have all been key components in the Ponies early season.

Miles City will be bringing a lot of game, too. As a Northeastern A rival, the Cowgirls will be giving it their all while hosting Havre. It would be a big thing for Miles City to pick up a win over the Ponies early on, possibly earning a edge on the conference standings.

And Shelby is not just a game on a usual Saturday - it is the Blue Pony senior night, which is something that Huse is excited to celebrate with the dedicated group of seniors.

"Against Shelby, it will be our senior night," Huse said. "We have seven seniors. They all are very good leaders in their own way within our program. We're looking forward to being able to honor them, especially with COVID-19 and not knowing what our season was really going to look like. It's going to be nice and take a moment to acknowledge these girls that have been in the program and put in a lot of time and dedication."

Seniors Kaylee Torgerson, Sydney Wilting, Samantha Lovenguth, Kennedy Hampton, Quinn McDonald, Ellie Collins and Talia Ralph will all be looking to continue to grand sparks they have shown off already in 2020. These seniors exude excellent leadership, teamwork, tenacity and an overall strong presence to the court, which they will look to amplify in the Havre High Gymnasium Saturday.

As for the Coyotes in general, Huse is glad to play some more competition.

"We don't really look at class that much," Huse said. "We're competing the team we're up against. Whether they're A or B or whatever they might be, they're a team we need to battle and play our best game against. We need to focus on the things we need to do well in order to be competitive and improve every time we're on the floor."

This weekend will be a mix of road and home-games for the Havre Blue Ponies (2-1), starting with the Miles City Cowgirls Friday at 7 p.m. in Miles City, followed by the Shelby Coyotes Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Havre High Gymnasium for a senior night showdown.