HHS netters meet the Central A

Havre High head tennis coach George Ferguson preaches that improving from week-to-week, match-to-match is the single biggest goal of his tennis teams during the regular season.

However, Saturday's trip to Lewistown will carry a second objective to go along with the main goal of getting better. The Blue Ponies are in Lewistown for the Central A Preview Meet, and while Ferguson said continuing to get better is still the ultimate goal, matches against Livingston, Anaconda, Lewistown and Central A newcomer Belgrade will be used to seed next month's divisional tournament.

"This weekend will be important as far as results go," Ferguson said. "The more we can win those head-to-head matches with our divisional opponents, the better positioned we will be when it comes to seeding the divisional tournament. So this is a big weekend for us. Having said that, seeding at divisionals doesn't guarantee you anything, so that's not the only thing we're focused on this weekend. We are still focused on improvement. We still have a ways to go. We've really ramped up our efforts in practice and getting better continues to be our ultimate goal."

And while watching his teams get better is what Ferguson looks forward to most this weekend, he is also looking forward to getting a look at all of Havre's divisional rivals. The only Central A team the Ponies have seen this season is Lewistown, and he's particularly interested in seeing Belgrade, which is in its first year of high school tennis.

"I don't know what most of the other teams have," Ferguson said. "Other than some of the returners who placed at divisionals last year. So this weekend is one that will be good for everybody, because we will all kind of get to see what the other teams have. I'm sure lineups will change some between now and next month, but this will be great as far as getting to see what else is out there in our division."

Due to District Music Festival, Havre will be one of those teams whose lineup will look different next month at the Central A. Ferguson is only bringing eight girls to Lewistown this weekend, led by senior Tatiana Ralph, who is on a roll right now after going a perfect 4-0 in Cut Bank last weekend. The top doubles team of Rainey Stoner and Madison Huebsch will also go to Lewistown, as will Reggie Bernard, Alex Donaldson, Megan Lindbloom and Marca Herron.

"We're missing some of our veteran girls this week," Ferguson said. "But that's OK. Those girls will still play in our JV meet in Havre. And this a great chance for some of our freshman to see what divisional tennis is like because a few of those girls are going to make the divisional team."

On the boys side, Havre's lineup is pretty much intact. Jeff Miller mans the No. 1 singles spot, while Jerod Boles and Noah Landgraf are undefeated at the No. 1 doubles spot. Jeffrey Ralph and Trey Hanson went 3-1 at No. 3 doubles at the Class A Invite, while Jamie Lieberg and Dustin Haas went a combined 5-3 in singles last week. However, Ferguson noted that he will mix his lineups up some in Lewistown, with Jake Sedahl and Wyatt Lindbloom and Kyle Kirkpatrick playing both singles and doubles. Varsity doubles player Nate Korb will miss this weekend's tourney.

"We're going to experiment a little bit this weekend," Ferguson said. "We've got a few options with our boys team and we'll use this weekend to see what works best. After this weekend, we'll set some things in stone and won't experiment anymore."

Changing the lineup and divisional seeding are all part of the plan for the Ponies this weekend, but at the end of the day, Ferguson wants to see the same thing he's been looking for at every meet the Ponies have gone to thus far – improvement in all of his players.

"This weekend is a big part of the process," Ferguson said. "We just want to keep getting better. We want to keep going forward and not take any steps back. And if we can leave Lewistown being able to say we did that against our divisional rivals, than we will have accomplished exactly what we set out do."

Saturday in Lewistown, the Ponies will dual Belgrade, Livingston, Anaconda and Lewistown, while HHS will also host a JV meet with Cut Bank and Lewistown Saturday in Havre.