Whitefish boys go 3-0 defeating CFalls, Bitterroot teams

As high school tennis moves into the second half of the season, the Whitefish boys team is looking deeply at its lineup and preparing for the divisional tournament coming up in just a few short weeks.

“Once we hit May we’ve got to really start thinking about who we are and where we play best,” Bulldog head tennis coach Chris Schwaderer said. “What are our best combinations and we take into account what the other schools have.”

Last week Schwaderer did quite a bit of switching his lineup around and was pleased with the results. The boys defeated Columbia Falls on Tuesday, April 27, 7-0. Then on Friday Whitefish traveled to the Bitterroot Valley and defeated Hamilton 6-1 and Corvallis 5-2.

Against Columbia Falls, of course with the rivalry, Schwaderer says it's always a big match for the two teams.

“They’ve got some good players over there and they’re definitely developing and getting stronger each year,” he said. “Going into it I knew it was going to be a battle. Even though we won 7-0, sometimes the results don’t always reveal the truth.”

The biggest battle was at No. 1 singles where Whitefish senior Jayce Cripe took on Wildcat Niels Getts. The match went to three sets after Getts won the first set in a tiebreaker, but Cripe was able to pull off the victory 6-7(10), 6-4, 6-4.

“(Cripe) went three sets against Niels Getts, who is a player that they’ve kind of competed on and off for their careers,” Schwaderer said. “It was a battle, I was really encouraged to see Jayce overcome that first-set loss and instead of getting down on himself he rallied and came back; focused on the things he needed to do to win the match.”

In doubles play the Whitefish team of Joe Brandt and Aaron Dicks defeated CFalls’ Cade Morgan and Cody Schweikert 6-3, 6-4, but Schwaderer said it was much closer than the score makes it appear. At No. 2 doubles Whitefish’s Fin Stagg and Johnny Nix needed three sets to defeat Wildcats Dale Blickhan and Nico Long 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

“It’s been really encouraging this whole season to see us get into these three-set matches and we’ve had a lot of success with them,” the coach noted.

Friday’s matches in the Bitterroot were challenging for the Bulldogs as well, and with the sun shining and warm temperatures it made for a good day of tennis.

Hamilton and Corvallis have consistently had good programs throughout the last decade and Schwaderer said he knew it would be a battle for his players.

“It’s good for us to get down to the Bitterroot and see what some of the other conferences look like,” he said. “It’s kind of a testing ground for us to go down there, see what they’ve got and see how we measure up.”

Against Hamilton, the Bulldogs stuck with a pretty common lineup that they’ve used most of the season. Cripe won at No. 1 singles; Highland Lee-French dropped one to the Broncs at the No. 2 spot and Jack Robertson and Jesse Burrough rounded out the singles lineup with two more wins.

The Whitefish doubles team of Brandt and Dicks defeated Hamilton, as well as the No. 2-3 doubles teams.

But against Corvallis, the Whitefish coaches decided to switch things up and placed Dicks with Lee-French on a No. 1 doubles team that defeated Corvallis’ Jason Bay and Marshall Fehr 7-5, 6-2.

“I’m really liking the combination of Aaron Dicks and Highland Lee-French, both are really competitive, athletic kids,” Schwaderer said. “I was curious what they could do. They came together and showed great chemistry and were super competitive.”

With that switch up it moved Brandt to No. 2 singles, Robertson remained at No. 3 and Johnny Nix tried out singles at the No. 4 spot; all Bulldog singles players won their matches.

“I put (Nix) in the singles and he just seemed like he was at home as a singles player, was just very consistent,” the coach said. “I think the kids are just developing really well as the season moves on and I’m looking forward to what the divisional tournament might look like.”

This week Whitefish was set to host CFalls at FVCC on Tuesday after press time. Then the Bulldogs take on Class AA Glacier and Saturday Ronan and Libby come to Whitefish for a double-header.

Whitefish 7, Columbia Falls 0

Singles

Jayce Cripe (W) d. Niels Getts 6-7(10), 6-4, 6-4. Highland Lee-French (W) d. Caleb Reinsburg 6-4, 6-2. Jack Robertson (W) d. Malachi Brower 6-0, 6-3. Aydin Mulholland (W) d. Logan Heuple 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles

Joe Brandt/Aaron Dicks (W) d. Cade Morgan/Cody Schweikert 6-3, 6-4. Fin Stagg/Johnny Nix (W) d. Dale Blickhan/Nico Long 6-7, 6-4, 6-4. Austin Gunset/Mason Kelch (W) d. Orion Barta/Lucas Thacker 6-1, 6-2.

Whitefish 6, Hamilton 1

Singles

Jayce Cripe (W) d. Andy Purcell 6-1, 6-2; Colin Hanley (H) d. Highland Lee-French 6-1, 6-2; Jack Robertson (W) d. Dawson Berglund 6-1, 6-1; Jesse Burrough (W) d. Max Naidl 6-2, 5-7, 10-5;

Doubles

Aaron Dicks/Joe Brandt (W) d. Liam O'Connell/Jackson Heath 6-3, 7-5; Austin Gunset/Mason Kelch (W) d. Cooper Gurney/Ryan Jordan 6-3, 6-2; Fin Stagg/Johnny Nix (W) d. Logan Vanden Berg/Tyler Glenn 7-6 (1), 6-2

Whitefish 5, Corvallis 2

Singles

Jayce Cripe (W) d. Cade Kelley 6-0, 6-1; Joe Brandt (W) d. Wyley Ostrander 6-0, 5-7, 10-3; Jack Robertson (W) d. Sam Stone 6-1, 6-1; Johnny Nix (W) d. Chance Jessop 6-1, 6-2;

Doubles

Aaron Dicks/Highland Lee-French (W) d. Jason Bay/Marshall Fehr 7-5, 6-2; Luke Sangster/Nik Talia (C) d. Austin Gunset/Mason Kelch 7-6 (11), 6-2; Fin Stagg/Jesse Burrough (W) d. Ryan Hutchinson/Grant Wilcox 6-4, 4-6, 14-12