HHS boys continue Central A tennis dynasty

Central A Division tennis titles are nothing new to the Havre Blue Ponies. But their most recent one was one of dominance. But in recent years, the Ponies have been winning divisional titles by very slim margins.

Not this weekend in Bozeman, however.

Havre scored 48 points, swept the singles and doubles titles and routed the rest of the field at the 2014 Central A tennis tournament Thursday-Friday in Bozeman. Anaconda was a distant second with 30 points, while Lewistown scored 26 and Livingston had 20.

Leading the way for the Blue Ponies were seniors Ned Malone and Brian Smith in doubles and sophomore phenom Jeff Miller in singles. Miller captured his second straight Central A title, while Malone and Smith went into the divisional tournament as the No. 2 seed and a first-year doubles team, but wound up dominating the rest of field en route to the doubles title.

"Couldn't be more proud of our boys team," said HHS head coach George Ferguson. "We went in expecting a really close race, and then I was thinking things might even be closer because we had some upsets happen to us early on. But at the end of the day, our 10 boys were clearly heads and shoulders above the other three teams this weekend. Our guys went to Bozeman and were really focused. They really took care of business down there, and they really left little doubt. Collectively, we played our best tennis of the season, and that was the goal. But it's easy to say it, it's not as easy to do it. But our guys did, and the result was a very dominating performance."

The result was Havre's 11th divisional championship under Ferguson and its 18th in the last 19 years. So clearly, the Pony boys are the undisputed kings of the Central A. And they played like it in Bozeman.

Miller was never so much as threatened in his three matches in Bozeman. He dispatched Livingston senior John Potenburg 6-3, 6-1 in the final, improving to 23-3 on the season, and he heads into the state tournament as one of the top singles contenders.

"Jeff did what Jeff has been doing all season long," Ferguson said. "He dominated his opponents. Jeff has come a long way in a year and he was really good last year. But he's just matured so much as a tennis player that he just makes it look so much easier this season. And he really made the divisional tournament look easy. It's already his second divisional championship, and he's still young. Jeff was awesome this weekend. I can't really put it any better than that."

But while Miller was expected to win a divisional title with ease, Malone and Smith didn't have that luxury going in. Malone played singles for his first three years of high school tennis, while Smith was playing with his third doubles partner in three years. However, on Friday, the duo looked like a team that had been playing together for years. The tandem demolished Lewistown stalwarts Zach Hould and Bryson Behl in the semifinals, then dismantled top-seeded Dennis Stanberry and Jackson Wagner of Anaconda, 6-1, 6-0 in the final. The win avenged a loss to the Copperhead duo earlier in the season, and it capped off a brilliant day of tennis for the Blue Pony duo.

"If anybody at that tournament deserved the feeling of winning a divisional championship, it was Ned and Brian," Ferguson said. "They have both worked so hard for four years, have put so much dedication and pride into our program, and both have come up short in different ways the last three years. So I'm just so happy and excited for those guys.

"Going into the tournament, they weren't the favorite, according to some," he added. "But they were far and away the best team in Bozeman. After they worked out some early nerves, they played beautiful, flawless, dominating doubles. They served well, they hit their spots precisely and they absolutely owned the net. They smothered and suffocated two strong doubles teams in the semis and final. They just never let those teams breath. It was doubles at its best, and I am just so impressed and proud of the way they played. I'm still just really excited talking about it, because they really were that good. They were pretty much untouchable this weekend and I couldn't be happier for those two."

Doubles was kind to the Blue Ponies all tournament long. The junior tandem of Noah Landgraf and Wyatt Lindbloom reached the semifinals, then won a tight match over the Anaconda No. 2 before eventually finishing fourth behind Hould and Behl of Lewistown. Meanwhile, the freshmen tandem of Jake Sedahl and Nate Korb also scored three big points for the Ponies, including a first-round win.

"We played well in doubles this weekend," Ferguson said. "And what's interesting about that is, we have three doubles teams who were all playing their first divisional tournament as teams. And our No. 3 were freshmen who only started playing tennis three months ago, really. So I was very excited about what we accomplished on the doubles side. Getting Wyatt and Noah through to state is a big coup for us. Those guys have played well all season, but like the others, they are a new doubles team. So I'm really proud and happy for those two as well. All our doubles players just did a great job."

In singles, Havre ran into its only snags of the tournament. Sophomore Jerod Boles lost a heartbreaker in the first round, while senior Zach Hellegaard lost in the quarterfinals. That meant the teammates had to face each other in a loser-out match on Friday morning. Boles prevailed in a close match, but he eventually fell one win short of reaching the state tournament. Junior Jamie Lieberg, playing in his first divisional tournament, went 0-2.

"Our plan was to get Zach and Jerod to state," Ferguson said. "It didn't work out, and they were both crushed. It was really the hardest moment of the tournament, those two having to play each other. As a coach, you wish it would never happen. But they both handled it with class and dignity and they did it the right way. They competed hard against each other, and after it was over, they were teammates again. I'm so proud of Zach Hellegaard. He has been one of the hardest-working players I've ever coached, and that is not the way he or I envisioned his last divisional tournament coming to an end. And it broke my heart that it happened the way it happened. But Zach is a tennis player, and he a good one at that. So he understands how it goes sometimes in this crazy sport, and he was Jerod's biggest supporter after their match. So I just couldn't be more proud of Zach.

"As for the way the singles shook out for us, it wasn't how we thought it would go," he continued. "But again, that's tennis and that's the divisional tournament, and even more so, it's singles. It's a really tough game, and the best players don't always prevail. But I'm really proud of Zach, Jerod and Jamie Lieberg because they fought to the bitter end in every match. Jerod was a warrior the whole way through, and I still believe he and Zach were two of the best players in that tournament, regardless of the results. There was no quit in any of them, even though things weren't quite going their way. They made me, and Havre High very proud this weekend."

And at the end of the day, the Blue Pony boys did themselves proud. The 10 Havre boys who went to Bozeman continued the Pony Central A dynasty that's now well into its second decade, and now Miller, Smith, Malone, Landgraf and Lindbloom will move on to the Class A state tournament Thursday-Friday in Billings.

"It was a great weekend for our boys," Ferguson said. "Really, this was a relatively young, and new-look boys team. But not now. They played like, and are, a veteran, outstanding tennis team, and they really dominated the divisional tournament. We had Blue Pony Blue playing everywhere all day on Friday, and that's the program we strive to be, and these guys carried on that tradition."

Team Scores

Havre 48, Anaconda 30, Lewistown 26, Livingston 20

SINGLES

Championship – Jeff Miller, HAV def. John Potenburg, LIV, 6-3, 6-1; 3rd Place – Carson Boynton, ANA def. Noble Vance, LIV, N/A.

Havre Individual Results

Jeff Miller (1st Place)

1st rd – Bye; 2nd rd – def. Eli Van Meel, ANA, 6-1, 6-1; Semifinals – def. Noble Vance, LIV, 6-1, 6-1; Championship – def. Potenburg, LIV, 6-3, 6-1.

Zach Hellegaard

1st rd – def. Parker Phillips, LEW, 6-2, 6-1; 2nd rd – def. by Boynton, ANA, 6-1, 6-2; Consolation 2nd rd – def. by Jerod Boles, HAV, 7-5, 6-4.

Jerod Boles

1st rd – def. by Carl Wright, LEW, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6; Consolation 1st rd – def. Justin Stoppler, ANA, 6-1, 6-1; Consolation 2nd rd – def. Hellegaard, HAV, 7-5, 6-4; Consolation 3rd rd – def. Wright, LEW, 6-2, 2-6, 6-0; Consolation Semifinals – def. by Vance, LIV, 7-5, 6-2.

Jamie Lieberg

1st rd – def. by Van Meel, ANA, 7-5, 6-1; Consolation 2nd rd – def. by Anders Peterson, LEW, 6-4, 6-1.

DOUBLES

Championship – Ned Malone/Brian Smith, HAV def. Stanberry/Wagner, ANA, 6-1, 6-0; 3rd Place – Hould/Behl, LEW def. Wyatt Lindbloom/Noah Landgraf, HAV, 6-2, 6-3.

Havre Individual Results

Ned Malone/Brian Smith (1st Place)

1st rd – Bye; 2nd rd – def. Leppala/Schaeffer, ANA, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5); Semifinals – def. Hould/Belh, LEW, 6-3, 6-1; Championship – def. Stanberry/Wagner, ANA, 6-1, 6-0.

Wyatt Lindbloom/Noah Landgraf (4th Place)

1st rd – Bye; 2nd rd – def. Wilcox/McCarthy, LEW, 7-5, 6-4; Semifinals – def. Staneberry/Wagner, ANA, 6-4, 7-5; Consolation Semifinals – Leppala/Schaeffer, ANA, 6-1, 6-4; 2rd Place – def. by Hould/Behl, LEW, 6-2, 6-3.

Jake Sedahl/Nate Korb

1st rd – def. Blodnik/Kincaid, ANA, 6-3, 6-0; 2nd rd – def. by Hould/Behl, LEW, 6-0, 6-1; Consolation 2nd rd – def. Froelich/Swanson, LIV, 6-1, 6-1; Consolation 3rd rd – def. by Seppala/Schaeffer, ANA, 6-1, 6-4.