Blue Pony netters begin again

It might be irony, it might be a good omen, but whatever it is, the Havre High boys and girls tennis teams will start a brand new season on the official first full day of spring.

The Blue Ponies, who have actually been hard at work for the last two weeks, will open their season on Saturday when they travel to the annual Cut Bank Invitational. And while 13-year head coach George Ferguson said his teams are just getting started, he’s very much looking forward to the start of another successful season of HHS tennis.

“I’m very excited,” Ferguson noted. “We have great kids out for both teams. We have a great mix of experience and youth, and that’s what you want in a program like ours. We’re always working to improve, always working to develop all of our kids, so it is great that we got the turnout that we did.

“Once again, these first few weeks of the season are just about getting our feet wet, getting into shape and getting the rust off,” he added. “And also, teaching our first-year kids the game itself. That matters a lot more than what our record is at these first few meets. That’s part of the building process that we’re going through right now, and so far it’s really going very well.”

Of course, things always seem to go well for the Blue Ponies, especially the HHS boys, who are one of the most dominant tennis programs in Class A and the Central A over the last two decades. And last spring was no different. Havre easily won the Central A team title, and led by a state championship in singles from now junior Jeff Miller, and a fifth-place finish by the graduated duo of Brian Smith and Ned Malone in doubles, the Ponies brought a third-place trophy home from the state tournament last May in Billings.

Havre did lose three seniors off last year’s squad, including its top doubles tandem, but hopes are high again this season — especially with Miller returning as the Class A state champ. And while Miller is clearly one of the top players in all of Montana, he’s got plenty of firepower alongside him.

Also back from last year’s divisional championship team are seniors Noah Landgraf, Wyatt Lindbloom and Jamie Lieberg, as well as junior Jerod Boles and sophomores Jake Sedahl and Nate Korb. Together, Landgraf and Lindbloom reached the Class A state tournament a year ago. Last year’s freshman class will also be expected to step up this season, with the likes of Dustin Haas, Jeffrey Ralph, Trey Hanson and Kyle Kirkpatrick all vying for varsity time along with junior Patrick Leeds.

“We’ve got some really nice depth this season on the boys team,” Ferguson said. “It’s going to be really competitive for who makes varsity and that’s what you want because that competitiveness really just makes everybody better. We’ve also got a great range of experience, and the sophomores are really going to step up big this season. We’re going to have a very competitive boys team again.

“And the future is looking really good, too,” he continued. “I’m really excited about the freshmen we have out, and some other first-time kids. They all have a lot of potential and are picking up the game really quickly. So that’s exciting. As for how this season will shake out, it’s too early to tell. We won’t really even have a set lineup for a while, and it’s tough to say who else will be strong in Class A until we’ve seen everybody. But I do know, our boys will work very hard, and they already have that Havre tennis pride in them, so I know we will have a chance to be very successful again this season.”

Newcomers to the Pony boys team include, Kendall Holden, Vander Swensen, Brady Ophus, Trey Murphy, Kennedy McKay, Barrett Kilgore and Will Thomas.

While the Blue Pony boys return a bulk of players from a very successful 2014 campaign, the same isn’t necessarily true for the Pony girls, who graduated seven players from last year’s squad, which won the Central A title and finished fifth at state. Among those who departed was Brandy Lambourne, who placed third in Class A in singles a year ago, while all seven of Havre’s seniors were four-year varsity players or four-year letter winners.

“Yes, we graduated a great senior class,” Ferguson said of last year’s girls. “One of the best group of seniors we’ve had in a long time. But one of the many great things those girls did was pass their knowledge and love of tennis on to the underclassmen, and we have a strong group of those girls back, and they’re ready to step up and take the reigns from last year’s seniors.

Leading the returning Pony girls is senior Tatiana Ralph, who reached the Class A state tournament a year ago, and also clinched Havre’s first Central A girls team title in five seasons with her third-place finish at the divisional tournament. The Ponies also return a strong junior class, led by the doubles team of Rainey Stoner and Madison Huebsch, as well as Alara Vogel, Meggan Smith and Ashley Hoffland, all letter-winners a year ago.

And while Ferguson has extreme confidence in his returning players, with a senior class like he had a year ago, there are holes to fill, and that’s where the crop of Blue Pony newcomers come in. Out for the team this year is junior Reggie Bernard, as well as experienced freshman Paige Nelson, along with Marca Herron, Alex Donaldson, Baylee Miller, Maecee Titeca, Megan Lindbloom, Chido Chickwava and Meggie Zook.

“We have a really strong group of new girls out for the team this year,” Ferguson said. “And that’s exactly what we were hoping for with the senior class we had last year. When those girls were freshmen, it was pretty much the same as it is now, and this group of newcomers has a ton of potential. I couldn’t be more excited about all of them. They are all learning very quickly and by the end of the season, I expect this group to really have become the next generation of Havre High tennis players.”

As for the season itself, the Ponies will be busy and be challenged with a tough schedule. Havre spends the first three weeks battling it out with Cut Bank, Conrad and Lewistown, before moving on to tough meets like the Class A Duals in Cut Bank, the Great Falls Invitational and the prestigious Helena Invitational. And it all leads up to the postseason, which starts with the Central A Divisional tournament May 14-15 in Bozeman and the Class A state tournament May 21-22 in Missoula.

“With how well practices have been going, I know it’s going to be a great season,” Ferguson said. “It’s also a process though. I like to break the season up into three main parts and right now, we’re only on part one. And I never like to get ahead of myself. Right now, the kids are working really hard, they’re learning and they’re getting back into form. And it’s a very fun part of the process. All the kids are doing a great job, and it’s a really fun group to coach, and that alone is going to make this season a blast, and I’m very much looking forward to all of it.”

The Blue Ponies’ season starts with Saturday’s Cut Bank Invitational. Havre will host just one meet this season, the annual Havre Invitational on April 4.