Havre girls sweep titles at Havre Invitational

It was far from a quintessential day for tennis. But the wind and cold could hardly dampen a very competitive Havre Invitational tennis tournament at the Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts.

The Havre High girls had a tremendous showing, winning both the girls singles and doubles titles.

"On the girls' side we had another really good day," said head coach George Ferguson. "I think that this was also the best competition our kids have seen this season."

Junior Amy McLain put on a scintillating performance, capturing the singles title with an 8-2 win over Fairfield's Alyssa Brown, who is the defending Class B-C champion.

McLain survived a tough quarterfinal match against Chester's Amanda Hofer with an 8-6 win and defeated Fort Benton's No. 1 player Abby Kelly 8-4 in the semifinals.

"Amy McLain played three players that she hasn't seen before, and she played really well en route to another singles title," Ferguson said. "She dominated the B-C defending champion in the championship. She is doing exactly what I thought she would do this season and is getting better and better every week."

Havre's Megan Rice fell to Brown in the quarterfinals but picked up another pair of wins.

Because of the large number of singles players, a separate bracket was held for the teams' No. 3 players. Havre's Karissa Olson lost a heartbreaker to Conrad's Amber Kiel 7-6 in the championship.

The double duo of Steph Flatau and Keelie Solomon put together their best tournament of the year, winning their first title of the year.

Flatau and Solomon defeated Chinook's Melanie Overcast and Lacey Sargent in the finals, 8-4.

"Steph and Keelie also showed this weekend why we are expecting big things from them down the road," Ferguson said. "The girls doubles draw was very difficult and they played very well and got their first title of the season. The team they beat from Chinook in the championship was a very good team. They just took control of the match and didn't let go."

Havre's other two doubles squads of Kari Gorder and Kristi Hollingshead and Jocelyn Chagnon and Molly Proctor also had strong showings.

"Our No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams played well," Ferguson said. "They all picked up good wins this weekend, and that is exactly what we needed to see from them, because our schedule is going to get very tough starting this coming weekend."

On the boys' side, Havre didn't have quite as much success, as the much-anticipated showdown between Havre's Kyle Baltrusch and Cut Bank's Keithan Gregg never materialized.

Baltrusch was upset in the semifinals by Cut Bank's Brian McDivitt, 8-6, while Gregg eased past Havre's Daine Solomon 8-3 in the other semifinal.

"It was a tough day for our boys singles," Ferguson said. "Kyle was upset in the semifinals by a player he has already beaten twice this year. He didn't play poorly, but it was just one of those days that happens to everybody. I have no doubt that he will bounce back and easily put that loss behind him."

Havre's other singles players had pretty good days. Lucas Hamilton, Scott Miller and Chase Castloo all picked up wins in the tournament.

"Lucas Hamilton continued to play well for us and Scott Miller had a really good day," Ferguson said. "Lucas has never really played in a draw with this ind of competition and I thought he did really well. Scott is one of the guys that is continuing to improve, and we are going to expect him to be a big part of this team's future."

The doubles was a little kinder to Havre as Marc Mariani and Gary Wagner won another title for the year.

The duo had little trouble along the way, losing just three games in three matches.

"Marc and Gary played really well," Ferguson said. "They cruised to the doubles title and I thought that they played well despite some really tough conditions."

Havre's other doubles team of Coda Tchida and Billy Wagner also played well. The duo lost a very tough match to Cut Bank's Jeff Larson and Kyle Lewis in the semifinals. Tchida and Wagner grabbed a 5-2 lead, but lost 8-7 in a tiebreaker.

"Coda Tchida and Billy Wagner played really well this weekend," Ferguson said. "If they continue to improve, I think we are going to be able to get back on track as a team."

Havre will prepare for its toughest tournament of the year, a trip to Helena for the always tough Helena Invitational.

2004 Havre Invitational Tennis Tournament

No Team Standings

Boys

Singles

Quarterfinals

Keithan Gregg, CB def. Chase Castloo, HAV, 8-0; Daine Solomon, HAV def. Michael Gruener, LEW, 8-1; Brian McDivitt, CB def. L. Woods, CON, 8-2; Kyle Baltrusch, HAV def. Noah Geiger, CB, 8-0.

Semifinals

Gregg, CB def. Solomon, HAV, 8-3; McDivitt, CB def. Baltrusch, HAV, 8-6.

Finals

Gregg, CB def. McDivitt, CB, 8-3.

Other Havre Results

Castloo, HAV def. Pearson, CON, 8-2

McDivitt, CB def. Lucas Hamilton, HAV, 8-0

Gruener, LEW def. Scott Miller, HAV, 8-3

Hamilton, HAV def. Petershick, LEW, 6-3

Miller, HAV def., Rasmussen, CON, 6-3

Hamilton, HAV def. Gruener, LEW, 6-3

Woods, CON, def. Miller, HAV, 6-4.

Doubles

Semifinals

Marc Mariani/Gary Wagner, HAV def. Selph/Gruener, LEW, 8-0.

Larson/Lewis, CB def. Coda Tchida/Billy Wagner, HAV, 8-7 (7-1).

Finals

Mariani/Wagner, HAV def. Larson/Lewis, CB, 8-3.

Girls

Singles

Quarterfinals

Amy McLain, HAV def. Amanda Hofer, CHE, 8-6; Abby Kelly, FB def. Kelly Ries, CON, 8-4; Alyssa Brown, FF def. Megan Rice, HAV, 8-5; Kelli Bergstrom, CON def. Jamie Berg, LEW, 8-4.

Semifinals

McLain, HAV def. Kelly, FB, 8-4; Brown, FF def. Bergstrom, CON 8-5.

Finals

McLain, HAV def. Brown, FF, 8-2.

Other Havre Results

Megan Rice, HAV def. Bauer, CB, 8-2.

Girls Singles No. 3

Semifinals

Karissa Olson, HAV def. Kelsey Cooper, CB, 6-2; Amber Kiel, CON, def. Jennifer Jones, FB, 6-0.

Finals

Kiel, CON def. Olson, HAV, 7-6 (7-5).

Other Havre Results

Olson, HAV def. Gen Burkhartsmeyer, CHI, 6-4

Jennifer Jones, FB def. Christen Kittelson, HAV, 6-0

JoAnna LaSorte, CHE def. Kittelson, HAV, 6-2.

Doubles

Quarterfinals

Flatau/Solomon, HAV def. Rice/Jacobsen, CB, 8-4; Diedrich/Brown, FF def. Thackeray/Tollefson, CHI, 8-0; Overcast/Sargent, CHI def. Violett/DeVries, CHE, 8-2; Ghekiere/Spaabeck, FB def. Kalbas/Bruce, CON, 8-2

Semifinals

Flatau/Solomon, HAV def. Diedrich/Brown, FF, 8-3; Overcast/Sargent, CHI def. Ghekiere/Spaabeck, FB, 8-6.

Finals

Flatau/Solomon, HAV def. Overcast/Sargent, CHI, 8-4.

Other Havre Results

Kalbas/ Bruce, CON def. Kari Gorder/Kristi Hollingshead, HAV, 6-5 (7-4)

Gorder/Hollingshead, HAV def. Stevens/Alisch, CHE, 6-3.

Havre JV Results

Boys

Singles

Ryan Kinholt, HAV def. T. Berry, LEW, 6-0; T. Zempel, CON def. Kinholt, HAV, 6-4.

Doubles

Jordan Croft/Austin Small, HAV def. C. Lockyer/C. Durnell, CON, 6-4

Dean Koffler/Eric Moog, HAV def. Kinnett/Halverson, CB, 6-3

Lockyer/Durnell. CON def. Tim McLean/Austin Wilson, HAV, 6-4

McLean/Wilson, HAV def. Kinnett/Halverson, CB, 6-4.

Singles

B. Schwomeyer, LEW def. Samantha Boucher, HAV, 6-3

L. Nugent, FF def. Katy Dow, HAV, 6-4

Riche Wilson, HAV def. A. Martin, 6-4

R. Ollinger, CB def. Wilson, HAV, 6-4

Boucher, HAV def. Pottenger, FB, 6-0

Dow, HAV def. A. Holskey, FB, 6-1

Boucher, HAV def. Nugent, FF, 6-5 (7-5)

Dow, HAV def. Schwomeyer, LEW, 6-3

Boucher, HAV def. Martin, NA

Dow, HAV def. Seright, NA.

Girls Doubles

Jocelyn Chagnon/Molly Proctor def. Eslick/Blankenship, CHI, 6-2

Erskine/Kellam, CHI, def. Jordan Toner/Angie Maxwell, HAV, 6-2

Moss/Brunett, CON def. Toner/Maxwell, HAV, 6-3

Chagnon/Proctor, HAV def. Allejon/Pottenger, FB, 6-2.