Pony tennis teams hitting their stride

The Havre High boys and girls tennis teams have caught an early spring break when it comes to the weather. Usually, at this time of year, the Blue Ponies are fighting just to get on the courts.

And though the weather will take a turn for the worse in the form of high winds this weekend, the Ponies are set to play their fourth meet of the season when they travel to Cut Bank for the Class A Invite Friday and Saturday.

In Cut Bank, Havre will dual four Class A counterparts. On Friday, the Ponies will take on the Hardin Bulldogs and Polson Pirates, and Saturday, HHS will return to Cut Bank to play against Libby and Whitefish.

“We’re hitting the heart of our schedule now,” said HHS head coach George Ferguson. “The level of competition will go up and up from here, and this meet in particular, is really a great test, because we face all Class A teams. The teams we’ll be facing will give us not only a really good look at where we’re at right now, but also a taste of things to come as far as divisionals and state go. So this is a big week for us.”

The Havre boys went 4-0 in Cut Bank a year ago, and the Pony lineup will be formidable yet again. Junior Jeff Miller is undefeated at No. 1 singles as are Jerod Boles and Noah Landgraf at No. 1 doubles. The tandems of Wyatt Lindbloom and Nate Korb and Trey Hanson and Jeffrey Ralph round out Havre’s varsity doubles lineup, while Jake Sedahl, Jamie Lieberg, Dustin Haas and Kyle Kirkpatrick will all see action in singles this weekend.

“Jamie Lieberg has really elevated his game this season,” Ferguson said. “He’s doing such a great job and is a perfect example of dedication and hard work paying off. And I think our boys team is really making progress. So I’m excited to see what they do against some stiffer competition this weekend. It’s going to be exciting to see how they respond to some new and unfamiliar opponents, because up until now, we’ve been very familiar with who we were playing every week.”

Havre’s young girls team meanwhile, is just looking to continue making progress as well. In Havre’s lineup this week are a host of players who have never played tennis at the Class A level, including freshmen Paige Nelson, Megan Lindbloom, Alex Donaldson and Marca Herron. The Pony lineup also includes No. 1 singles player Tatiana Ralph, as well as the junior doubles teams of Rainey Stoner and Madison Huebsch, Alara Vogel, and Reggie Bernard and Ashley Hoffland and Megan Smith.

The Ponies will go up against two strong teams Friday, as both Polson and Hardin will likely figure into the team race at the state tournament later this spring. But as always, Ferguson is more focused on how his players are playing, and not so much on who they are playing.

“It will be great to see our girls go up against some tough competition,” Ferguson said. “It’s a great learning experience for them, and they need to continue to gain that experience because we are such a young team in terms of experience. But, our goals are still the same right now. We just want to get better. We want to be better than our last match or our last practice. That really goes for both the boys and the girls. We just want to keep improving, and these four duals in Cut Bank give us a great opportunity to continue to do that.”

The Ponies will play Hardin Friday morning and Polson Friday afternoon in Cut Bank. Then, they will return to play Libby and Whitefish Saturday afternoon. Havre also has a new tournament scheduled for April 18 in Lewistown.