Tough Helena Invite awaits HHS netters

The Havre High tennis teams will be playing in the Central A Divisional tournament in just a few short weeks. But before the Ponies get to that, they'll play in one of the toughest and most prestigious tournaments of the season.

Havre high sophomore doubles player Noah Landgraf hits a forehand during last month's Havre Invitational. The Blue Pony tennis teams are in Helena Friday-Saturday for the prestigious Helena Invite.

Friday and Saturday, Havre is in Helena for the annual Helena Invitational, arguably the best high school tennis tournament in Montana during the regular season. HHS is one of only two Class A teams invited to Helena, with Livingston being the other. The rest of the field is composed of the entire Class AA. So that makes for a very challenging event, but one Havre head coach George Ferguson looks forward to every year.

"Helena is the best place to really find out how far your game has come," Ferguson said. "The best players in the state are in this event, so it's really tough. But it's also nice because players are matched up by the number in their lineup, so you're still on par with kids of equal skill level for the most part. It's really a great tournament, and it's one our kids really enjoy. It's very tough, it's tough to advance, but it's a great test for our kids, and it's one that certainly makes us better."

In Helena, there will be double-elimination brackets for the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 singles and doubles for both boys and girls. The tournament will feature great boys teams like Missoula Hellgate, Glacier and Bozeman, as well as top girls teams like Glacier, Bozeman and Missoula Sentinel.

"Playing head-to-head against the top AA kids is really beneficial," Ferguson said. "And sure, in a lot of those matches, we'll be the underdogs, but that's fine with us. The competition we'll get this weekend is priceless, and on top of that, we've always done very well in this tournament. Our kids always seem to take their game to the next level, and I believe they'll do that again this weekend."

On both boys side, Havre freshman standout Jeff Miller will be in a singles draw which includes Glacier star Kellan Bates and Hellgate star Alex Braun. The No. 1 singles draw in Helena is usually tougher than a state tournament draw, and the same goes for Havre's No. 1 doubles duo of Nick Rhines and J.J. Hovet and girls No. 1 Brandy Lambourne and the top doubles team of Lainey Chagnon and Jennifer Cichosz.

"Being a No. 1 in this tournament is very difficult," Ferguson said. "You get the wrong draw and your day can be over pretty quick. But at the same time, our kids relish the challenge and they are excited to play really good tennis players. I know all of our number one's are ready for this and they'll do just fine."

The rest of the Havre boys lineup includes junior Ned Malone at No. 2 singles and senior Jacob Holden at No. 3 singles. Noah Landgraf and Brian Smith play No. 2 doubles and Wyatt Lindbloom and Jerod Boles play No. 3. On the girls side, Shannon Herring will play No. 2 singles and Tatiana Ralph is at No. 3. Breck Don and Ellery Bresler play No. 2 doubles and Haley Graham and Morgan Jappe, who have lost just once this season, play No. 3 doubles.

And though the competition is fierce, and the tournament is demanding, Ferguson said this weekend is exactly what his team needs.

"We can usually gauge how ready we are for divisionals by how well we play in this tournament," Ferguson said. "Not by how many matches we win in Helena, but how well we play. If our kids can play well in this tournament, if they can play consistently against this type of competition, then we know we're peaking at the right time, and we'll be ready for divisionals in two weeks. Because the competition doesn't get any tougher than what we'll see Friday and Saturday."

The Helena Invite will get underway at 9 a.m. Friday at four locations across the Capitol City. The tournament is scheduled to run through Saturday afternoon.