Tennis teams polish off opponents
The Viking and Valkyrie tennis players
made the most of their final week of the regular season as they
swept Ronan, Columbia Falls and nearly Libby as well.
The busy week of tennis for the Bigfork
team started in Ronan where the Vikings went undefeated in all
seven matches and the Valkyries won six of their seven.
“They played really well. They continue
to make some really great progress,” said Paul Wallin, Bigfork
tennis coach. “Ronan wasn’t the stiffest competition for us, but it
was just about getting on the court and getting some more sets
under their belt.”
Junior Mckinze Shults earned a victory
in the No. 1 singles spot, defeating Josie Benedetti 6-4, 6-4.
“Mckinze Shults had a really nice
match,” Wallin said. “Both of them really tried to work the ball.
It wasn’t one of those matches where they just hit the ball back
and forth in the middle of the court. They both had some strategy
that they were trying to work. Mckinze was just a little bit
steadier.
In Libby on Friday it was Shults’ solid
play that again earned her a win over her opponent. She beat Kaya
Hardgrove 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles match.
“Mckinze played another smart match
just working the other person back and forth,” Wallin said. “One of
the things I really like about Mckinze is that she is very steady.
She may lose a couple of points in a row, but she doesn’t let it
get her down. She is very mentally strong.”
While in Libby, Bigfork also worked
some matches in with players from Troy. This helped give the Vikes
and Vals some needed court time.
“Shane Parks and Kyle Campbell had two
really long matches,” Wallin said. “They lost to Troy, but the two
hard matches that they had in Libby and Troy gives them good
experience that will help them at state. I’m counting on them for
some advancement points.”
On Monday night the Bigfork boys hosted
Columbia Falls and beat them 4-3.
The Vikings won all of the singles
matches and the Wildcats won all of the doubles matches, including
the No. 3 doubles match, which Bigfork had to forfeit.
Junior Colter Mahlum played in the No.
1 singles spot for Bigfork and beat Brian Parker 6-4, 6-3.
“Colter controlled the tempo of the
match,” Wallin said. “He hung in there when his opponent made a
strong charge in the second set. It was a good experience for
him”
Picking up a loss in the No. 1 doubles
spot were Bigfork seniors Ryan Gembala and Evan Jordt. They were
defeated by Vadim Zvygelskiy and Miroslav Zvygelskiy 7-5, 7-5,
6-3.
“They lost it because in doubles you
can’t win a match from the back of the court,” Wallin said. “They
need to come up to the front of the court and dominate at the net.
Otherwise you’re giving up too much court.”
The final push
It is crunch time now for the Bigfork
tennis team.
The girls played their final regular
season match Tuesday. (Those results were not available prior to
press time and will be in next week’s Eagle.)
On Friday and Saturday the Valkyries
will battle for a spot at the state tournament in the Western B/C
Divisional Tournament.
Shults will play in the No. 1 singles
spot, senior Ariel Stallknecht will play in the No. 2 spot,
freshman Alanis Stallknecht will play in the No. 3 singles spot and
junior Miranda Miller will play in the No. 4.
The No. 1 doubles duo will be senior
Hannah Barrett and junior Kianna Wicklund. Sophomores Makenna
Gembala and Shelby Scoggins will be the No. 2 duo.
In order to advance to state, those
playing singles must place in the top six and those playing doubles
must finish in the top four.
“I feel confident about how we’re going
to do in our matches and I think we will be successful overall,”
Wallin said. “It’s two long days of tennis. Given good weather we
should be able to get through it. I’m generally optimistic about
how the girls will play.”
The Valkyries will face players from
Troy, Mission and Eureka at divisionals.
“We’ve had pretty good success against
these teams. It comes down to pairings though in a lot of ways. A
lot of teams have been doing the same as we are in Bigfork in that
they have girls playing in different spots during the regular
season than they will at divisional. Some played up or down or in
singles or doubles and at the tournament that won’t necessarily be
the case,” Wallin said.
Meanwhile the boys will be playing
challenge matches among each other to determine who will play on
the state team and in what seeds.
In Class B and C there is no divisional
tournament. Each school is allowed to take four singles and two
doubles teams to the tournament.
The Class B/C State Tennis Tournament
for boys and girls is May 19-21 at the University of Montana in
Missoula.