Ponies duke it out with Class A powers

The 2016 Class A Duals may have started out a little icy for the Havre High tennis teams, but, by the time they were all over, it was all sunshine for the Blue Ponies.

Havre traveled to snowy Cut Bank Friday, but the weather turned nice for much of the tournament, which saw the Blue Pony boys and girls compete in four duals. In the end, the Havre boys went a stellar 4-0, while the HHS girls went 1-3, but notched some important victories.

However, records aside, HHS head coach George Ferguson was more impressed with two things over the course of the two-day event: how his players played, and the weather itself.

“As everybody saw, Friday morning, it didn’t even look like we were going to play tennis, it was much more like Christmas time out,” Ferguson said. “But, Friday afternoon, the weather took a great turn, and it wound up being two of the best tennis days I’ve ever seen in Cut Bank.

“And the kids played well,” he continued. “We went in knowing the competition was going to be much more challenging, and we also knew we would have to juggle our lineups some because of music. But, by Saturday night, I think it was safe to say all of our kids played some very good tennis. All of them made some big improvements from last week in our tournament. And, with the season really kicking into high gear now, that was the main goal — just to keep getting better, and our kids did that.”

On Friday, the Havre boys played an all doubles dual indoors against Hardin and the Ponies won 4-1. Then, shifting to a regular dual, the Ponies, even with a forfeit, beat a strong Whitefish squad, 4-3. Jeff Miller was stellar for the Ponies in singles, while Jerod Boles and Jake Sedahl won twice in close matches at the No. 1 doubles spot. Against the Bulldogs, Havre also got big wins from Nate Korb and Trey Hanson and Kennedy McKay and Trey Murphy in doubles.

Meanwhile, the HHS girls fell in the doubles dual to Hardin 3-2, and the Ponies dropped a 6-1 decision to Whitefish Friday evening, with the lone win coming from the doubles team of Megan Lindbloom and Alex Donaldson, who would eventually go an outstanding 3-1 on the weekend.

Returning to the great weather in Cut Bank Saturday, the Pony boys kept moving forward. Havre topped Libby and Polson, 4-3 in each dual, with Miller and Dustin Haas dominating the competition at the top of the singles lineup, while Boles and Sedahl capped a perfect 4-0 weekend with two more competitive wins.

“Our boys again played well,” Ferguson said. “And it was a big weekend for them, because every team we played brought some really solid players. Jeff played at a high level, and Jerod and Jake looked really strong against some pretty tough doubles teams. I was also really proud of the way Dustin Haas played Saturday. He beat two good players, and overall, we were strong in both doubles and singles, and that’s what we need, we need balance in our lineup. So I was happy with the strides the boys made, and they won a lot of matches while doing it.”

Saturday started good for the HHS girls, as the Ponies beat Libby 6-1 with Paige Nelson earning a big win at No. 1 singles, while all three of Havre’s doubles teams notched victories. Then however, Havre ran into another juggernaut in the Polson Pirates, and while the Ponies lost 6-1, with Marca Herron earning the only win in singles, Havre played some strong tennis, and that left Ferguson excited about his girls team’s prospects.

“We knew that Whitefish and Polson were going to be very good,” Ferguson said. “And they were. Both of them had solid lineups, but our kids really stood up to those challenges. I thought, in those two duals this weekend, our girls played some of their best tennis of the season, and that’s really encouraging, because we’ve got many more tough girls teams on our schedule. It’s tough to lose matches, but our girls got better this weekend, and that’s the most important thing.”

Another important aspect of the two days in Cut Bank was match time for many of Havre’s younger players, players Ferguson said haven’t seen that level of competition before arriving in Cut Bank.

“The competition was good for all of our players, but I was really excited for many of our freshmen and sophomores,” he said. “Brady Ophus, Tommy Brown, Trey Murphy, Kennedy McKay, Marca Herron, Paige Nelson, Alex Donaldson, Megan Lindbloom, players like that really stepped their game up this weekend. They may not have won some of the matches they were in, but man, they really improved from Friday morning to Saturday night, and it was very exciting to see.

“So, overall, this was a really good weekend,” Ferguson continued. “We were looking forward to bigger and tougher challenges and we got them. This was the first step in what is a big four weeks coming up for us, and all of our kids did a great job of moving forward. I’m excited and encouraged about what we accomplished in Cut Bank, and we’ll use all of those matches and all we learned this weekend to keep moving forward. So I’m really proud of all of our kids.”

Havre is back on the courts Saturday when the Ponies attend the Central A Preview Meet in Lewistown. Before that, the HHS girls have their annual dual with Chinook Tuesday at the Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts. The action between the Ponies and Sugarbeeters starts at 4 p.m.

BOYS

Friday

Havre 4, Hardin 1 (Doubles Only)

Jeff Miller/Dustin Haas, HAV def. Michael Nesser/Clay Wacker, HAR, 6-5 (7-1); Brady Ophus/Tommy Brown, HAV def. Jae Hugs/Jon Noctboom, HAR, 6-3; Jerod Boles/Jake Sedahl, HAV def. Darnell Left Hand/David Evans, HAR, 6-4; Codi Small/Jardell Yarlott, HAR def. Nate Korb/Trey Hanson, HAV, 6-5 (7-3); Kennedy McKay/Trey Murphy, HAV def. Ricky Hill/Sean Nesser, HAR, 6-4.

Havre 4, Whitefish 3

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def. Thomas Carlos, WF, 8-0; Cole Turgeon, WF def. Brady Ophus, HAV, 8-3; Jack Khale, WF def. Tommy Brown, HAV, 8-6; Zach Meadows, WF won by fft.

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Jake Sedahl, HAV def. Chaffin Ross/Austin Reese, WF, 8-7 (8-6); Nate Korb/Trey Hanson, HAV def. Jack Brandt/Brenden Buls, WF, 8-3; Kennedy McKay/Trey Murphy, HAV def. Zach Brandt/Chris Kellog, WF, 6-1.

Saturday

Havre 4, Libby 3

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def., Cody Wood, LIB, 8-2; Dustin Haas, HAV def. Jhmaal Sykes, LIB, 8-1; Colin Maloney, LIB def. Brady Ophus, HAV, 8-3; Dameon Kelch, LIB def. Tommy Brown, HAV, 8-5.

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Jake Sedahl, HAV def. Erik Lauer/Brayden Thom, LIB, 8-6; Gio Cano/Ryan Nagle, LIB def. Trey Hanson/Nate Korb, HAV, 8-6; Kennedy McKay/Trey Murphy, HAV def. Raymond Sadewasser/Virgil Sadewasser, LIB, 8-2.

Havre 4, Polson 3

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def. Jaron Morgan, POL, 8-1; Dustin Haas, HAV def. Kade Forman-Webster, POL, 8-2; Wyatt Ducharme, POL def. Brady Ophus, HAV, 8-5; Hudson Smith, POL def. Tommy Brown, HAV, 8-3.

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Jake Sedahl, HAV, def. Quaid Harlan/Colin Kenney, POL, 8-5; Trey Hanson/Nate Korb, HAV def. Cadis Chowning/Matt Sitter, POL, 8-5; John Moore/Kaden Forman-Webster, POL def. Kennedy McKay/Trey Murphy, HAV, 8-6.

GIRLS

Friday

Hardin 3, Havre 2 (Doubles Only)

Naumie Duschane/Brittney Schaff, HAR def. Paige Nelson/Ashley Hoffland, HAV, 6-1; Makiko Teiseig/Katie Murdock, HAR def. Marca Herron/Katie Donaldson, HAV, 6-0; Alara Vogel/Reggie Bernard, HAV def. Madison Chavez/Imani Kindness, HAR, 6-5 (7-5); Maddie Flamm/Losa Cai, HAR def. Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV, 6-2; Alex Donaldson/Megan Lindbloom, HAV def. Trya Red Wolf/Deshawna Anderson, HAR, 6-3.

Whitefish 6, Havre 1

Singles

Lili Szundy, WF def. Paige Nelson, HAV, 8-2; Katie Fyal, WF won by fft; Anna Peterson, WF def. Devyn Solomon, HAV, 8-0; Amara McDaniel, WF def. Katie Donaldson, HAV, 8-2.

Doubles

Heather Luedke/Hannah Madsen, WF def. Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV, 8-2; Holly Hileman/Janette Kolarzik, WF def. Reggie Bernard/Marca Herron, HAV, 8-3; Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV def. Jessica McCoy/Ellie Foley, WF, 6-1.

Saturday

Havre 6, Libby 1

Singles

Paige Nelson, HAV def. Mehki Sykes, LIB, 8-6; Cloie Boardner, LIB def. Marca Herron, HAV, 8-1; Katie Donaldson, HAV won by fft, lost 8-6 in exhibition; Devyn Solomon, HAV won by fft, lost exhibition, 8-5.

Doubles

Alara Vogel/Reggie Bernard, HAV def. Jessika Jones/Marissa Wood, LIB, 8-5; Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV def. Laurynn Lauer/Danille Wilson, LIB, 8-2; Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV def. Morgan Snyder/Kristina Balista, LIB, 8-3.

Polson 6, Havre 1

Singles

Marlee Congdon, POL def. Paige Nelson, HAV, 8-1; Mollie Lemm, POL def. Meggan Smith, HAV, 8-1; Shea McGuinness, POL def. Ashley Hoffland, HAV, 8-3; Marca Herron, HAV def. Josie Peterson, POL, 8-2.

Doubles

Shawna Lenz/Cassie Carlyle, POL, def. Reggie Bernard/Alara Vogel, HAV, 8-4; Olivia Hewston/Tessa Nunlist, POL def. Madison Huebsch/Rainey Stoner, HAV, 8-6; Kyler Lundeen/Natalee Wheeler, POL def. Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV, 8-2.