Lady Dogs tennis drops Hamilton, Corvallis over weekend

A pair of dual wins over the weekend has the Lady Dogs ready for the Western A Divisional Tournament this week.

Whitefish took down Hamilton 5-2 and Corvallis 4-3 in a sunny doubleheader Saturday at Flathead Valley Community College.

Head coach Patrick Dryden said if the past is any indicator, his team is getting better.

“I thought the biggest thing was we lost to Corvallis 7-0 a few weeks ago and we turned around and beat them 4-3 on Saturday, so I think we’re improving,” he said.

Claire Carloss picked up two big wins on the day at the No. 1 singles spot, taking down her Hamilton opponent before squeaking out a close 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-3) win over Emile Thomas of Corvallis.

The doubles pair of Aubrey Hanks and Olivia Potthoff also notched a pair of wins, taking down Collen May and Mia Simapovic of Hamilton 6-0, 6-2 and Connie Watt and Olivia Fehr of Corvallis 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).

Dryden said his No. 1 singles and doubles were key matches against both teams on Saturday.

“The biggest matches of the day were the No. 1s. Claire, Aubrey and Olivia, all three of them are sophomores and I’m really proud of how they responded. All three got crushed in their first set, but they showed a lot of maturity and came back,” he said.

This week the Lady Dogs start postseason play with the Western A Divisionals Tournament in Libby on Thursday and Friday.

Dryden said the focus is on getting everything as sharp as possible heading into the tournament.

“We’re just fine tuning everything. We got off to such a slow start with the doubles that there’s still some specialty shots and skills we need to work on. For singles, we just need to work on coming to the net and defending people coming to the net,” he said.

“We’ve positioned ourselves to qualify some people for state, we just have to go out and get the job done now.”

Whitefish 5, Hamilton 2

Singles — Claire Carloss, W, def. Sarah Trinh, 6-4, 7-5; Holly Mahon, H, def. Bella Wilson, 6-3, 6-4; Corrine Felton, H, def. Mackenzie Vick, 6-4, 6-4; Jesse Grawunder, W, def. Laura Jordan, 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles — Olivia Potthoff/Aubrey Hanks, W, def. Collen May/Mia Simapovic, 6-0, 6-2; Kit Anderson/Autumn Roalson, W, def. Lauren Kinzey/Claire Matthews, 6-4, 6-1; Payton Kastella/Abigail Shaffer, W, def. Corrine Felton/Laura Jordan, 6-0, 6-2.

Whitefish 4, Corvallis 3

Singles — Claire Carloss, W, def. Emile Thomas, 1-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-3); Madeline DeLeo, C, def. Bella Wilson, 6-1, 6-4; Gracie Young, W, def. Jen Watt, 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (10-8); Jade Greenberg, W, def. forfeit.

Doubles — Aubrey Hanks/Olivia Potthoff, W, def. Connie Watt/Olivia Fehr, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-1); Molly Gale/Megan Kirkland, C, def. Kit Anderson/Autumn Roalson, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3; Danielle Coates/Kristina Weidkamp, def. Payton Kastella/Jesse Grawunder, 6-4, 6-2.