Blue Pony tennis off and running

Winter is nowhere near gone, but the Havre High boys and girls tennis teams still made their 2011 season debut this weekend.

On Saturday in Cut Bank, the Blue Ponies participated in a modified Cut bank Invitational, as Havre played two duals inside Cut bank's Willie DeGroot Gymnasium with shortened matches.

Early Saturday morning, HHS took on Cut Bank. The Havre boys won just two matches against the talented Wolves, with Justin Jensen and Brayden Grimson both winning in singles. On the girls side, HHS won just once against the Cut bank girls, who are likely the favorite in Class B-C this season after finishing second to Chinook a year ago. Blue Pony sophomore Jade McCormick won a singles match for the Pony girls.

After playing Cut Bank, the Ponies faced arch rival Lewistown, although the Eagles were short-handed. The Havre boys went undefeated against the Eagles with Jensen, Grimson, Nick Rhines and Ned Malone sweeping the singles matches, while the teams of Zach Cichosz and Keenan Dolezal, Simon McCann and Trey Brown and Jacob Holden and William Wagner swept the doubles. The Pony girls won four of five matches against the Eagles as well. Danielle Faechner and Teresa Buerkle swept in singles for the Ponies, while Jennifer Cichosz and McCormick teamed up to win at No. 1 doubles.

"It was a good start," HHS head coach George Ferguson said. "I was pleased with how the kids played. We were looking for effort and we were looking for them to apply what they had learned so far, as well as just gain some match experience. We accomplished all of those things on Saturday, so I was really pleased.

"The first meet is always exciting," he added. "And because of the weather, just getting to play was huge for us, as it was for everybody there. We took a lot of younger players, a lot of freshman, so this was there first time out and they all did a great job. It was a really productive first meet and now we'll build on this experience."

The Blue Ponies are scheduled to return to action this Saturday when they travel to Conrad for the Conrad Invitational.

Cut Bank Invitational

Duals Only due to weather

Havre Girls vs Cut Bank

Singles

Morgan McDivitt, CB def. Danielle Faechner, HAV, 6-1; Taylor Harvie, CB def. Teresa Buerkle, HAV, 6-3; Jade McCormick, HAV def. Emily Anderson, CB, 6-4, Mariah McCormick, CB def. Breck Don, HAV, 6-3.

Doubles

Brianna Bauer/Jillian Altenberg, CB def. Jade McCormick/Jennifer Cichosz, HAV, 6-0; Kayla Kraft/Paige Larson, CB def. Breck Don/Ellery Bressler, HAV, 6-0; Kido Hoffman/Chante Fitzgerald, CB def. Morgan Jappe/Haley Graham, HAV, 6-0.

Havre Boys vs Cut Bank

Singles

Justin Jensen, HAV def. Nathan Voeller, CB, 6-3; Brayden Grimson, HAV def. Isaac Matt, CB, 6-0; Jeremy Moss, CB def. Nick Rhines, HAV, 6-0; Austin Schilling, CB def. Ned Malone, HAV, 6-3.

Doubles

Nate Kavanagh/Jordan Hoof, CB def. Zach Cichosz/Keenan Dolezal, HAV, 6-2; Dylan Johnston/Chaz Cooper, CB def. Simon McCann/Trey Brown, HAV, 6-1; AJ Sheble/Brandon Greco, CB def. Jacob Holden/William Wagner, HAV, 6-3.

Havre Girls vs Lewistown

Singles

Danielle Faechner, HAV def. Kayla Olson, LEW, 6-3; Teresa Buerkle, HAV def. Elizabeth Finn, LEW, 6-0.

Doubles

Jade McCormick/Jennifer Cichosz, LEW def. Shantel Nielsen/Andrea Nielsen, LEW, 6-3; Morgan Jappe/Haley Graham def. Kayla Olson/Elizabeth Finn, LEW, 6-3; Shantel Nielsen/Andrea Nielsen, LEW def. Ellery Bressler/Breck Don, HAV, 6-3.

Havre Boys vs Lewistown

Singles

Justin Jensen, HAV def. Dylan Kelly, LEW, 6-4; Brayden Grimson, HAV def. Austin Butcher, LEW, 6-2; Nick Rhines, HAV def. Johnny Maier, LEW, 6-3; Ned Malone, HAV def. Austin Songer, LEW, 6-2.

Doubles

Zach Cichosz/Keenan Dolezal, HAV def. Andy Butcher/Andrew Bruno, LEW, 7-5; Simon McCann/Trey Brown, HAV def. Hooper Armour/Brad Armour, LEW, 6-1; Jacob Holden/William Wagner, HAV def. Gregory Gallagher/Andrew Olson, LEW, 6-0.