HHS netters make progress in Conrad

Havre High head tennis coach George Ferguson wanted to see his Blue Ponies make improvements on the second Saturday of the brand new tennis season. And under sunny, warm skies in Conrad, that’s exactly what he says the Ponies did.

Havre was in Conrad for the Conrad Invitational Saturday where the Pony boys went 3-0, and the HHS girls had two ties and a loss. But Ferguson said the scores weren’t what he was looking at when the day was over.

“What I saw was a lot of growth in our players,” Ferguson said. “We’re playing catch up right now with our veteran kids, and our newcomers are very early in the learning process. So to play as well as we did, and to see those improvements from one week to the next, I was so excited. Our kids just did an awesome job this weekend, and I’m really proud of the progress they made.”

The Blue Pony boys went undefeated Saturday, beating Conrad 1-0, Cut Bank 6-1 and rival Lewistown 4-3. Havre got an undefeated day from junior singles player Josh Currie, while Jared Rosgaard, Carter Spangler, Kendall Pleninger and Gavin Hall all won in singles, and Trenton Maloughney and Theron Peterson, Caleb Spangler and Collin Miller, Reid Kato and Conner McKay and Isaac Pedraza and Wyatt Simpson all teamed up to win matches in doubles.

“Really good things from our boys,” Ferguson said. “Josh Currie had another really strong day. And I thought all our juniors started to really play well and knock the rust off. And our younger guys, man that was fun to watch. This is the youngest boys team we’ve ever had, but all those guys are picking it up quick. Everybody we took down there played really well, and as a team, our boys improved and that was the number on goal.”

The Pony girls are even younger than the boys, and while they still took some lumps, Ferguson said they too improved. Grace Crantz and Talia Ralph won two matches at No. 1 doubles, while Courtney Burchard and Chloe Bricker won in doubles as well, and Kaylee Torgerson picked up a win in singles for the Ponies.

“Our girls team is as young and new as it gets,” Ferguson said. “So this entire process is just a huge learning situation for them. But I love the way they go out on the court and compete. This girls team is really working hard, they are very competitive and they’re getting the hang of this high school tennis thing really quickly. And it’s a lot of fun to just watch their progress.”

And progress is what Ferguson and the Ponies are after. This week starts week four of the season, and also marks the Havre Invite.

“This is kind of the first turning point in our season,” Ferguson said. “We have some really tough competition coming to Havre this weekend, but we’re excited to be at home. We take so much pride in the Havre Invitational, so we’re going to take what we did in Conrad, work really hard this week in practice, and come out ready to play even better on Friday. That’s the goal right now, to just keep getting better and these kids are all doing a great job of that and I’m really proud of them.”

Havre hosts Lewistown, Glendive and Hardin in duals this Friday, while those three teams will be joined by Cut Bank and Conrad for an inivational tournament Saturday.

Conrad Invite

GIRLS

Conrad 4, Havre 3

Singles

Natalie Broesder, CON def. Rayna Johnson, H, 6-0; Payton Vermlum, CON def. Kaylee Torgerson, 6-1; Abby Hutton def. Destiny Hernandez, H, 6-1; Ava Killian, CON def. Katarina Kaftan, CON, 6-0.

Doubles

Crantz/Ralph won by fft lost to Broesder/Vermlum, 6-1; Bricker/Burchard won by fft lost to Killian/Hutton, 6-1; Frandsen/Bennett def. Greenwood/Kaftan, 6-2.

Cut Bank 3, Havre 3

Singles

Courtney Anderson, CB def. Rayna Johnson, H, 6-0; Kaylee Torgerson, H def. Lauren Ytterdahl, CB, 6-4; Caitlin Vermlum, CB def. Destiny Hernandez, H, 6-3; Kellyn Dunaway, CB def. Kylie Greenwood, H, 6-0.

Doubles

Crantz/Ralph, H won by fft, def. Vermlum/Ytterdahl, CB 6-1; Burchard/Bricker, H won by fft, lost ti Dunaway/Overstreet, CB, 6-5 (2); Anderson/Overstreet, CB def. Greenwood/Kaftan, H, 6-2.

Lewistown 4, Havre 3

Singles

Kayla, LEW def. Rayna Johnson, H, 6-2; Skylan Rutten, LEW def. Kaylee Torgerson, H, 6-1; Natalie Day, LEW def. Destiny Hernandez, H, 6-1; Marla Villareut, LEW def. Katarina Kaftan, 6-0.

Doubles

Crantz/Ralph, H def. Mecklenberg/Mason, LEW, 6-3; Bricker/Bruchard, H def. Briedenbach/Peterson, LEW 6-3; Rayney/Vaughn, LEW def. Greenwood/Kaftan, H, 6-5 (5).

BOYS

Havre 1, Conrad 0

Josh Currie def. Ethan Wittmier, CON, 6-1; Jared Rosgaard lost to Wittmier, CON, 6-1; Gavin Hall won exhibition match 6-4; Mason Kinsella lost exhibition match 4-6; Isaac Pedraza/Wyatt Simpson lost exhibition match 6-5 (4).

Havre 6, Cut Bank 1

Singles

Josh Currie, H def. Carl Estey, CB, 6-0; Jared Rosgaard, H def. Damien Burke, CB, 6-0; Carter Spangler, H def. Peyton St. Goddard, CB, 6-2; Kendall Pleninger, H def. Jackson Black, CB, 6-3.

Doubles

Sneed/Gray, CB def. Maloughney/Peterson, H, 6-2; Spangler/Miller, H def. Gohr/Paulson, CB 6-3; McKay/Kato, H won by fft def. Arensameyer/Black, CB, 6-3.

Havre 4, Lewistown 3

Josh Currie, H def. Gabe Arndt, LEW, 8-4; Rafe Bruchez, LEW def. Jared Rosgaard, H, 8-1; Michael Deguzman, LEW def. Carter Spangler, 8-0; Carter Ricks def. Kendall Pleninger, H, 8-5.

Doubles

Malighney/Peterson, H def. Day/LaPage, LEW, 8-1; Spangler/Miller, H def. Smith/Hoots, LEW, 8-0; McKay/Kato won by fft lost to Ricks/Smith, LEW, 6-4; Pedraza/Simpson won exhibition; Hall/Kinsella lost exhibition.