Ellis, Kenyon make noise at state meet

Whitefish’s tennis duo of Camp Kenyon

and Connor Ellis pulled out a few impressive wins at the state

Class A tournament in Great Falls last week, knocking off a

favorite along the way.

After losing their opening round to

Havre in windy conditions, the doubles team rebounded with a huge

win over division rival Polson. Kenyon and Ellis hadn’t beat

Polson’s No. 1 team all season, but easily took them down in two

quick sets.

“That win was really big,” Whitefish

coach Chris Schwaderer said. “They handled them and played some of

their best tennis of the year.”

The juniors rode the momentum into the

next match were they knocked off Glendive in two sets, setting up a

match with Corvallis the next day.

After losing the first set to

Corvallis, the duo made some adjustments and rolled in the second.

They were up 5-4 in the third, but Corvallis rallied to edge

Whitefish in the end.

“Somehow it slipped away,” Schwaderer

said.

Overall, it was a good showing, the

coach noted.

“They beat teams they didn’t think they

could beat, and they made good progress through the back side of

the bracket,” Schwaderer said. “We could have gone even

farther.”

Schwaderer looks forward to having the

duo back again next year and hopes they build on the experience

gained at state.

“We have a lot of kids that developed

and got so much better,” Schwaderer said.