Busy opening week for tennis teams

After weeks of waiting for adequate

weather to compete, or even practice in, the Bigfork High School

boys and girls tennis teams had their first matches of the season —

five of them to be exact  — over the past week.

The marathon schedule all started last

Tuesday, April 5, in Mission (St. Ignatius). Then it was a Friday

match in Polson followed by a Saturday match against Whitefish that

was supposed to be an away match but was moved to Bigfork because

Whitefish’s courts still have snow on them. Monday Bigfork played

Glacier at Flathead Valley Community College.

“It’s not typical to have this few

practices in at this point in the season,” said Paul Wallin,

Bigfork High School tennis coach. “So we might be match rich right

now, but we’re practice poor. It gets to be a really short season

when it’s the middle of April and we still have weather like

this.”

Outcomes in the matches varied from

school-to-school and between genders. The Bigfork boys tied Mission

with three wins apiece, beat Polson 5-3, beat Whitefish 4-3 and

lost to Glacier 5-3. The Bigfork girls beat Mission 4-2, lost to

Polson 6-1, beat Whitefish 4-3 and lost to Glacier 5-3.

The majority of Bigfork’s losses came

from forfeits. Although there are plenty of athletes out for

Bigfork tennis this year, not all of them are ready to compete yet.

Additionally, Wallin has some players competing in singles and

doubles in the same match right now to gain experience. However,

the rules state that if a players competes in a singles match and a

doubles match then the doubles match counts as a forfeit.

“What we’re doing right now is trying

to get them to hit some more balls and have them get some more

match play experience,” Wallin said.

Glacier

Playing in Bigfork’s No. 1 girls

singles spot, senior Hannah Barrett dropped her match to Glacier’s

Katya Kulikova 6-2, 6-0 on Monday.

The Valkyries earned their three points

from victories in the remaining singles matches. Junior Kianna

Wicklund defeated Hilary Syvertson 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 2 match.

Senior Ariel Stallknecht took down Kendall Sattler 6-1, 6-0 in the

No. 3 match. In the No. 4 match, McKinze Shults took the win over

Nikki Olsen 6-1, 6-0.

“Kianna played well and Hannah did too,

but it was difficult conditions,” Wallin said. “The weather

exasperated an already tenuous tennis outing.”

The Valkyries had to forfeit three of

their four doubles matches. The remaining match was won by

Glacier.

The Bigfork boys picked up three wins

over Glacier. Senior Dylan Reichenbach beat Quintyn Menegazzi 6-0,

6-1 in the No. 2 match.

“Dylan played really well,” Wallin

said. “He dominated the pace of the play and he set up his shots

really well.”

Senior Ryan Gembala earned a win over

Reece Erickson 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 3 match. Senior Evan Jordt,

playing in the No. 4 match, bested Andy Walling 6-1, 6-0.

The Bigfork boys’ doubles teams

forfeited two matches and lost out in the other two.

“Evan and Ryan both had a great day,”

Wallin said. “Not only did they do well in singles and win their

matches, but they went on to win their doubles match as well,

though it was counted as a forfeit.”

Junior Colter Mahlum played for Bigfork

in the No. 1 singles match and lost 6-2, 6-2 to Brandon

Simpson.

Whitefish

The Vikings split their singles and

doubles matches to come out on top over Whitefish on Saturday.

Playing in the No. 2 spot, Mahlum

defeated Skylar Munzing, 6-4, 6-1. Jordt won the No. 3 match 6-1,

6-4.

Reichenbach, who played No. 1 singles,

lost 6-3, 7-6 (7-2). Roessmann lost the No. 4 match by a narrow

margin as well. He lost the first set 6-3, won the second 6-4, but

lost the third 6-4.

“I think one of the best matches of the

tournament was Seth Roessmann’s,” Wallin said. “He went down 4-6 in

the third set, but it went into a nice long match and he got some

great on-court playing time.”

In doubles play, seniors John Lyon and

Nate Roberson earned a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Kolter Larsen and Seth

Corne in the No. 2 match. Junior Shane Parks and sophomore Kyle

Campbell picked up a win for Bigfork in the No. 3 match, defeating

Michael Reimer and Haydon Eaton 6-2, 6-3.

Bigfork forfeited the No. 1 doubles

match, which made a victory in Parks’ and Campbell’s match crucial

for the Vikes to go away with the win.

“Shane Parks showed his leadership on

the court helping Kyle and himself to win the crucial match of the

day,” Wallin said.

The Valkyries won all four of their

singles matches against Whitefish. Barrett won 6-0, 6-0 over Sloan

Ellis, Wicklund 6-1, 6-0 over Laura Turro, Stallknecht 6-3, 6-0

over Caroline Carbo and Shults 6-0, 6-1 over Simone Craft.

“The Bigfork girls were dominant in

singles play,” Wallin said.

The Vals had losses in the No. 1 and

No. 2 doubles matches and forfeited the No. 3 match.

Polson

The Vikes strongly prevailed in Polson

as they won all four singles matches.

Mahlum got things started with a 6-3,

6-2 win over Brady Hislop in the No. 1 singles match.

“He had a good match against Brady

Hislop,” Wallin said. “That was a good win for Colter. Brady is a

freshman, but he plays a really good game.”

Reichenbach followed with a 7-5, 6-2

victory over Justin Evertz.

“Dylan played some really smart

tennis,” Wallin said. “One of his strengths is he wins a lot of

matches by just hanging back and sort of being a retriever. He wins

a lot of points by just sitting back and waiting for the other

person to wear down.”

Jordt defeated Hayden Congdon after

losing the first set 7-5 and coming back with a 6-4 win and a 12-10

win to put the match away. Gembala won 6-2, 6-4 over Ian

Laimbeer.

“Ryan had a good weekend. He played

some really consistent tennis,” Wallin said.

The Vikes forfeited the No. 1 doubles

match and lost the No. 2 match.

The Valkyries were not so lucky in

Polson. They earned just one team point with their only victory of

the day coming from Shults, who defeated Karly Rochin 6-2, 6-3 in

the No. 4 singles match.

“The Polson girls team is pretty deep

and they are tough,” Wallin said. “We competed well against them,

but they are more experienced than we are at this point.”

Mission

In their first match of the season, the

Valkyries swept the singles matches.

Barrett defeated Sarah Bowers 7-5, 7-6

(7-2), Wicklund defeated Jane Makepeace 7-6 (7-3), 6-2, Stallknecht

defeated Mackenzie Trudeau 6-4, 6-3 and Makenna Gembala defeated

Morgan Andres 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-10. The Bigfork girls forfeited

their doubles matches.

For the boys, Reichenbach faced last

year’s singles state champion Spencer Ahlborn in the No. 1 match

and lost. He was defeated 6-4 in the first set, won the second 6-3

and lost the third 6-4.

“Dylan played him tough. It was a good

match,” Wallin said.

Bigfork’s victories came from two

singles matches and a doubles match. Mahlum won the No. 2 doubles

match 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) over Karl Daniels. Gembala won the No. 3 match

over Bryan Schock 1-6, 6-1, 10-8.

Bigfork forfeited the No. 1 doubles

match. Parks and Roberson won the No. 2 doubles match for Bigfork,

though, outing Kats Yelsa and Troy VanTrager 10-3 in a pro set.

“It was the first match of the season

for us and I think the second for Mission,” Wallin said. “The

weather conditions weren’t very good so we saw some real

inconsistent play. We are trying to eliminate more forced errors.

We are also trying to work on when to be aggressive and when to

stay in the point.”

Up next

The Vikes and Vals travel to Ronan on

Friday. Bigfork plays host on Monday and this coming Tuesday, April

18 and 19, to Mission and Glacier, respectively.

Editor’s note: The Valkyries also

hosted Eureka (Lincoln County) on Tuesday, April 12, which gave

them a sixth match over the past week, but those matches were not

completed prior to press time. See next week’s Bigfork Eagle for

the results.