Blue Pony tennis faces tough Northwest A foes

By Havre Daily Staff

With a successful Havre Invitational behind them, the Havre Blue Pony tennis teams are now about to embark on the busiest portion of their regular season. And it starts with a slight change in the schedule.

Normally, this week is reserved for the annual Class A Duals in Cut Bank, and, the Ponies will attend the meet Friday. But, that event has been moved to a one-day affair, so Havre will keep trucking west to take on two Northwest A teams in Whitefish and Columbia Falls on Saturday. In all, that means Havre will take on four Northwest A teams in two days, which HHS head coach George Ferguson said, couldn't be better experience for his young teams.

"This will be a great weekend to continue to get better and learn more about ourselves," Ferguson said. "In Cut Bank, we're going to play Libby and Polson, and then we get Whitefish and Columbia Falls on Saturday. The Northwest A is always strong, so those four matches will be very challenging and that's exactly what we need right now."

Havre was certainly challenged at home last weekend. With windy and cold conditions, the Ponies preserved and won a ton of matches at the two-day Havre Invitational, including junior Josh Currie, who continues to impress in his first season at No. 1 singles.

"Josh is playing so well," Ferguson said. "I'm not surprised because he works hard at his tennis. He puts in the time. And it's paying off. He's playing at a high level right now, but what's really exciting to me is, he's only scratching the surface. He's going to be keep getting better and better."

Ferguson said his entire boys team will do the same. Havre is also led by the top doubles tandem of Josh Warp and Trenton Maloughney as well as a new-look doubles team in Caleb Spangler and Mick Chagnon. Juniors Theron Peterson, Jared Rosgaard and Collin Miller are also impacting the Pony lineup, while newcomers such as Conner McKay, Carter Spangler, Kendall Pleninger and others are also making big strides.

"Our boys are coming along," Ferguson said. "We're improving and we're also getting closer to figuring out our best lineups. So they're doing a great job."

The Havre girls, meanwhile, are also doing a great job. The Ponies are led by the veteran doubles team of Talia Ralph and Grace Crantz, as well as the team of juniors McKenzie Mangold and Destiny Hernadez. After that, younger players like Rayna Johnson, Kate Hemmer, newcomer Kaylee Torgerson, Mylee Schennum, Chloe Bricker, Courtney Burchard, Kat Kaftan, and Kylie Greenwood are growing every day as tennis players, and, because the Ponies are so young, progress is all Ferguson is looking for right now.

"The learning curve is steep for this girls team," Ferguson said. "It's really starting from the beginning for so many of them. But it's so much fun to watch their progress. They're getting it. They get better every day and that's awesome to see."

And this weekend is another in which Ferguson just wants to see his teams get better, especially against the tough competition Havre will face.

"I'll sound like a broken record before the season is over, but it's all about reps and improvement right now," Ferguson said. "I'm not looking at anyone's records, I'm looking at their swings, their serves, their footwork, their effort. As long as we're improving, that's all I want to see right now. And I think our kids will do that again this weekend."

Havre will face Libby at 8 a.m. and Polson at 10:30 a.m. Friday in Cut Bank. The Ponies then play Whitefish at 2 p.m. and Columbia Falls after in Kal;isepll on Saturday.