Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
The Chinook Sugarbeeters and Havre High Blue Ponies girls tennis teams got together for a glorious evening of tennis at the Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts, and the two teams combined to play 20 matches Tuesday in Havre. “The dual was good, for both teams, I think,” HHS head coach George Ferguson said. “We got in a lot of matches and had really good weather for once. “We usually play each other twice, but the first meet was cancelled because of weather,” he added. “But all of the matches were very competitive from top to bottom. So I was pleased with how things went.” The Beeters’ veteran doubles teams helped Chinook to 12 wins in the dual, led by the duo of Sara Harshman and Darcie Mohar, who knocked off both Havre’s No. 1 team of Haley Donovan and Courtney Kinholt, as well as the Ponies’ No. 2 team of Morgan McCann and Jolee Landgraf. Chinook’s No. 2 team of Kayla Dugan and Pattie Hellman also beat both of HHS’s doubles teams. In all, the two teams played eight doubles matches, and the Beeters won seven of them. McCann and Landgraf did beat Chinook’s Alyssa Brown and Emily Harshman for the Ponies only win in doubles. “I think we learned a lot today in terms of our doubles players,” Ferguson said. “Chinook is very strong in doubles, and we’re young. We didn’t have anyone who wasn’t a freshman playing doubles, so today was a good learning experience for us.” On the singles side, Havre got a combined four wins from junior Haley McLain and sophomore Hope Hedges. McLain beat Becca Blankenship 8-5 and Larissa Baird 8- 1, and Hedges defeated Kelsie Hanson, 8-1 and Blankenship, 8-0. Senior Christen Kittelson also won once for HHS. She defeated Baird 8-4, but lost to Hanson, 8-6. Brown gave Chinook a victory in singles, as she defeated Melissa Kittelson, 8-4, and Kesley Buhman also picked up a win over Melissa Kittelson, 8-7. The Ponies did get a solid victory from freshman Christina Plum, who defeated Chinook’s Brittney Hofer, 8- 5. MaryBeth Blankenship and Hannah Somers also captured singles victories for the Beeters. “I thought all of our kids played really well today,” Ferguson said. “What I really like about this dual is the fact that we get to play all our JV kids. They don’t get many opportunities to play real matches, so this was a good experience for them, especially since we have nine freshmen on the team this year. The more matches they play, the better it is for the future of our program, so a dual like this was a real positive for us.” The HHS girls will rejoin the Pony boys on Friday and Saturday in Billings for the Mayfair Invitational.
