Havre High tennis teams fight through nasty conditions

Going into the second weekend of the 2015 tennis season, Havre High head tennis coach George Ferguson was looking forward to having a full lineup of boys and girls, and seeing his teams learn and improve at the annual Conrad Invitational.

However, the latter proved to be easier said than done as the Ponies, and their opponents, fought through the near-impossible winds to play at Saturday’s Conrad Invitational in Conrad. Winds were sustained at 30-35 mph and gusts of over 50 mph were recorded as Havre took on Conrad, Lewistown and Cut Bank in dual action.

Still, Ferguson said his teams were able to get as much out of the day as possible, and he was pleased with how they performed.

“First off, I’m just very proud of the kids for putting forth their best in those conditions,” Ferguson said. “At higher levels of tennis, matches would have been postponed because of winds like that. But we don’t do that in Montana. We play through it. And I was proud of the way our kids approached the day. We told them to give it their best and, most importantly, not change their game because of the wind. We wanted to see all of our kids play their game and do the things we are working on right now regardless of the winds, and they did that. So I couldn’t ask anything more out of them. It was a tough, tough day.”

The winds didn’t hurt the Pony boys’ results in what were their first three official scoring duals of the season. Havre took down Conrad 5-1 in the morning, then beat Cut Bank 6-1 and Central A rival Lewistown 5-2 in back-to-back duals in the windiest part of the day.

Individually, top-ranked Jeff Miller won three times, as did senior Jamie Lieberg. The duo of Jerod Boles and Noah Landgraf also won three matches at the No. 1 doubles spot, while Jake Sedahl and Dustin Haas each won twice in singles, Wyatt Lindbloom and Nate Korb recorded one win in doubles, as did the tandems of Jeff Ralph and Trey Hanson and Ralph and Trey Murphy.

“Our boys battled,” Ferguson said. “We’re experimenting with our lineup right now, but more importantly, we were focused getting better at the things we need to work on right now. So we weren’t focused on scores, we were focused on how we approached the matches, our effort and how we played, and as it turned out, all the boys did a great job with those things, and we were able to win three duals in the process. So it was really a good start for our boys team in some brutal conditions.”

The day was much more difficult for the young Pony girls team, which is composed of quite a few players with little or no varsity experience. And while Havre was blanked by both Cut Bank and Conrad, and lost a close dual to Lewistown to end the day, Ferguson said his team made big strides from the start of the day to the finish, and that’s all he was looking for.

Against Lewistown, Tatiana Ralph scored a win at No. 1 singles, while Reggie Bernard won at No. 4. At No. 1 doubles, Madison Huebsch and Rainey Stoner won a tiebreaker as well.

“We had four freshmen and four girls who had never played a high school tennis match before Saturday,” Ferguson said. “And we had two doubles teams who had never really played together before Saturday either. And then to put them out there in those conditions, it was a big challenge for them. It was a lot to handle their first time out.

“But, I was extremely happy with what I saw from all of our girls, but in particular the newcomers,” he added. “They got better, match by match, point by point. They learned a ton, and they played the way we wanted them to. So I think those girls grew a lot and learned a lot in a short amount of time, and that’s all we’re trying to do right now, we’re just trying to learn and get better every time we step on the court, and our girls did that on Saturday.”

And after a rough ride in Conrad, Havre will get a chance to continue to get better on its own home courts. The Blue Ponies are slated to host the Havre Invitational this Saturday, with Cut Bank, Conrad and Lewistown in attendance. And Ferguson noted that it’s the best measuring stick for his teams right now.

“That’s the great thing about these two weeks,” he said. “We see where we’re at in Conrad, and we come right back and see mostly the same kids, in a different format, on our courts. So our tournament is great, because it gives those kids a chance to really see how they are progressing by going up against the same competition as they did in Conrad. We’ll find out a lot about ourselves at our tournament, and not only that, but it’s our only home meet of the year, and all our kids get to play, so it’s an exciting weekend for us.”

Conrad Duals

BOYS

Havre 5, Conrad 1

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def. Cordell Wittmier, CON, 6-0; Jake Sedahl, HAV def. Austin Padilla, CON, 6-2; Jamie Lieberg, HAV def. Dawson Berg, CON, 6-1; Tyler Huber, CON def. Dustin Haas, HAV, 6-5, (7-4).

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Noah Landgraf, HAV def. Parker Lawson/Dawson Berg, CON, 6-1; Jeff Ralph/Trey Hanson, HAV def. Brandon VanderBush/Michael Bender, CON, 6-4.

Havre 6, Cut Bank 1

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def. Spencer Czech, CB, 6-1; Jake Sedahl, HAV def. Jordan Castle, CB, 6-2; Jamie Leiberg, HAV def. Jessie Burtness, CB, 6-2; Dustin Haas, HAV def. Dawson Matt, CB, 6-2.

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Noah Landgraf, HAV def. Josh Biegler/Jess Ray, CB, 6-2; Brandon Ostby/Cameron Hatch, CB def. Wyatt Lindbloom/Nate Korb, HAV, 6-5 (7-2); Jeff Ralph/Trey Murphy, HAV def. Dawson Matt/Cameron Hatch, CB, 6-1.

Havre 5, Lewistown 2

Singles

Jeff Miller, HAV def. Kody Neill, LEW, 6-1; Parker Phillips, LEW def. Jake Sedahl, HAV, 6-2; Jamie Lieberg, HAV def. Dalton Jensen, LEW, 6-4; Dustin Haas, HAV def. Ryan Fink, LEW, 6-2.

Doubles

Jerod Boles/Noah Landgraf, HAV def. Bryson Behl/McKye McCarthy, LEW, 6-2; Wyatt Lindbloom/Nate Korb, HAV def. Danyon Rice/Xavier Plouffe, LEW, 6-0; Carl Wright/Theo Igeland, LEW def. Jeff Ralph/Trey Murphy, HAV, 6-2.

GIRLS

Conrad 7, Havre 0

Singles

Trinity Cox, CON def. Tatiana Ralph, HAV, 6-3; Carly Taft, CON def. Paige Nelson, HAV, 6-0; Haley Taft, CON def. Alara Vogel, CON, 6-0; Carly Behr, CON def. Reggie Bernard, HAV, 6-0.

Doubles

Ali Wakinnen/Jenna Rodriguez, CON def. Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV, 6-3; Dania Jones/Delayne DanDyke, CON def. Ashley Hoffland/Meggan Smith, HAV, 6-3; Mariah Moulton/Kristen Wentworth, CON def. Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV, 6-0.

Cut Bank 7, Havre 0

Singles

Dakota Dosch, CB def. Tatiana Ralph, HAV, 6-4; Allie Anderson, CB def. Paige Nelson, HAV, 6-3; Paige Johnson, CB def. Alara Vogel, HAV, 6-1; Donelle Novak, CB def. Reggie Bernard, HAV, 6-1.

Doubles

Duana Gobert/Alex Kraft, CB def. Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV, 6-2; Katrina Sandoval/Megan Barrett, CB def. Ashley Hoffland/Megan Smith, HAV, 6-1; Deana Gobert/Anyssa Rousch, CB def. Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV, 6-0.

Lewistown 4, Havre 3

Singles

Tatiana Ralph, HAV def. Summer Elmore, LEW, 6-2; Taylor Woods, LEW def. Paige Nelson, HAV, 6-2; Alexia Arndt, LEW def. Alara Vogel, HAV, 6-5 (8-6); Reggie Bernard, HAV def. Chloe Johnston, LEW, 6-1.

Doubles

Rainey Stoner/Madison Huebsch, HAV def. Ciara Backer/Beth Olson, LEW, 6-5 (7-5); Josey Allen/Haydn Ziolkowski, LEW def. Meggan Smith/Ashley Hoffland, HAV, 6-1; Audra Fry/Lissy Southworth, LEW def. Megan Lindbloom/Alex Donaldson, HAV, 6-0.