Girls doubles make quarterfinals at State A

Both of Whitefish’s doubles teams made it to the quarterfinals in the State A girls tennis tournament last week in Missoula.

No. 1 duo Anna Peterson and Katie Fyall easily topped Dillon’s Rachel Nye and Kodi Ferris 6-0, 6-2 in the opener on Thursday.

“They breezed through that one,” Whitefish coach Pat Dryden said.

Heather Luedke came down with a fever on Thursday, forcing freshman alternate Cailyn Ross to team up with Hannah Madsen as the No. 2 seed team. The pair won 6-3, 6-2 over Stevensville’s Danielle Haacke and Saya Shimazaki in the first round.

“I’m impressed with how the girls handled the adversity,” Dryden said. “Cailyn was thrown into the state tournament with only 30 minutes to warm up.”

“Heather was a great teammate and came out to cheer them on. Another 24 hours and she probably could have played.”

The quarterfinals proved to be more challenging as both teams were bumped to the consolation bracket.

Ross and Madsen lost to Park High’s Mariel Kelley and Chelsea Woods.

Peterson and Fyall went down in a battle 7-6 (10), 6-4 to Park High’s Lindsay Lane and Lindzi Printz.

“That was the best tennis I’ve seen all season,” Dryden said of the slug-fest. “It was a gritty set. They made many acrobatic saves to keep it alive.”

The duo would beat the No. 3 Park team before getting bounced from the tourney in a loss Friday to a team from Hardin.

Whitefish scored 5 points in the tournament.

Overall, Dryden was pleased with the showing at state and throughout the season.

“We went 12-3 in duals and gained valuable experience at state,” he said.