HHS netters hitting a busy time of year

For the first six weeks of the spring, Havre High head tennis coach George Ferguson has been preaching to his players about the journey, about just improving each day, and at each meet.

And while Ferguson says his players are doing that, and doing it well, the Blue Ponies do need to shift gears a bit this week when they travel to Lewistown for the Central A Preview Meet. There, Havre will face Belgrade, Livingston and Lewistown, and also get a bonus dual against defending state champion Billings Central.

“Our goals aren’t changing,” Ferguson said. “We just want to keep getting better, keep getting sharper. That’s our main focus. But, this weekend will also help determine how we seed the divisional tournament next month, so, against our conference rivals, we want to play as well as we can because the more matches we’re able to win, the better it will be for our kids when we get to the divisional tournament.”

Duals against the Panthers, Rangers and Eagles will help determine the divisional brackets later on, and while Ferguson is tempted to be excited about the opportunity to play the Rams, whose boys have won three straight Class A titles, and whose girls won the state championship last year, he says that dual is just an added bonus. The business at hand is making sure his teams play well against their conference rivals.

“Billings Central has been a wonderful program for years now,” Ferguson said. “They have produced some outstanding tennis players and we’re going to see some very good matchups when we play them. So, it’s a great opportunity, and one we don’t get in the regular season often. I don’t think we’ve seen them in the regular season for seven or eight years now.

“But, playing them this week is really a bonus, that will be an experience, and one we’ll definitely relish and use to make us better,” he continued. “So, while that’s exciting, our business is to go play our conference opponents as well as we can. That’s what we’re focused on this week. That and, of course, making sure we keep moving forward, keep improving.”

And Havre has been improving. The Pony boys, led by senior Jeff Miller in singles, and Jerod Boles and Jake Sedahl in doubles, bring an undefeated dual record into Saturday’s tournament. HHS is getting production throughout its lineup, with Dustin Haas coming off a strong weekend at the Class A Duals in Cut Bank, and a deep doubles lineup with juniors Trey Hanson and Nate Korb at No. 2 and sophomores Kennedy McKay and Trey Murphy at No. 3. Sophomore Brady Ophus and freshman Tommy Brown round out HHS’ boys lineup.

On the girls side, Havre is also making big strides. Havre’s senior doubles tandems Alara Vogel and Reggie Bernard and Rainey Stoner and Madison Huebsch lead the way, but improving sophomores Alex Donaldson and Megan Lindbloom are coming on strong at the No. 3 spot, while sophomores Paige Nelson and Marca Herron, and steady seniors Meggan Smith and Ashley Hoffland anchor the Ponies’ singles lineup.

“Our kids have been playing very well,” Ferguson said. “But this week, and really the next three tournaments, that’s where we need to take the next big step in our season. We’re already down to just 15 practices before the divisional tournament, so as well as we’ve played thus far, this is the time of year when we really need to take a big jump forward so that we’re peaking in mid-May. So that’s a big goal in Lewistown, to make sure we walk off the court Saturday night being able to say we proved something to ourselves. We want to be able to say we got better.”

Havre will travel to the Central A Preview Meet Saturday, while the Ponies will also host a junior varsity tournament Saturday at the Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts in Havre.