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Bulldogs split tennis duals, head into final week in regular season

by WHITNEY ENGLAND
Whitefish Pilot | May 12, 2021 1:00 AM

For the second time in just a couple-week span, Whitefish Bulldogs boys tennis took down their cross-valley rival Columbia Falls last week.

The boys beat Columbia Falls 6-1 on Tuesday, May 4, with the only loss coming from the No. 2 doubles match. Then a few days later on Thursday the boys had their first team loss of the season, falling to AA Glacier 6-2.

At No. 1 singles Jayce Cripe defeated Wildcat Niels Getts in straight sets — 6-3, 6-2. The previous meeting between the two pushed to three sets and the points were long. This time Cripe took care of his opponent without too much strife.

“Jayce Cripe looked really solid at No. 1,” Whitefish boys tennis head coach Chris Schwaderer said. “The previous match when he played Niels Getts the week before they went three sets, and then in this one Jayce was just really efficient and on top of his game.”

Whitefish swept the singles matches against CFalls with two-set wins by Joe Brandt, Aydin Mulholland and Connor Kelly. Brandt has been playing at No. 1 doubles this season up until recently, as Schwaderer says he’s been trying alternate combinations. Against the Wildcats Brandt played at No. 2 singles and defeated Orion Barta 6-0, 6-1.

“We put (Joe Brandt) in No. 2 singles and he looks really good there,” Schwaderer said. “He’s really athletic and able to play both ways. He can do whatever he needs to do.”

And that made the No. 1 doubles team shift as well. Bulldog Aaron Dicks remained on that team and Highland Lee-French came in to fill the second position. The team of Dicks and Lee-French pulled out a tough three-set match against Columbia Falls’ Cade Mordan and Cody Schweikert — 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4.

“That was a really tightly contested match… the Columbia Falls team continues to get better and they’re a very athletic team,” Schwaderer expressed. “It was a real battle, but we were able to squeeze that one out which made me feel good.”

Against Glacier later in the week, Whitefish wasn’t as fluid and struggled to pull out three-set matches.

“The Glacier match, that felt like a bit of a letdown,” Schwaderer said. “We got into a few matches that were really tight, really close; in this case we didn’t always get the ones that we want.

“I’ve been saying a lot this year how we’re a really super resilient team, that whenever we get into a three-set match we find another gear and a way to get it done, but this one didn’t go our way,” he added.

Brandt pulled out a win over Glacier’s Will Rudbach 6-1, 6-1 and on the doubles side Whitefish’s No. 1 doubles team of Dicks and Lee-French defeated the Wolfpack’s Ethan Purdy and Harrison Sanders — 7-6(4), 6-4. The remainder of the Bulldog’s singles and doubles lineups lost their matches.

“I think it’s good for the guys to see that we’ve always got to show up and be prepared for a little adversity and that’s what we got with Glacier,” Schwaderer said. “I think it will be kind of a wake up call and it’ll help us this week. We’ve got a big week coming up, our last week before we go into the divisional tournament and I think we’ve got to get really tuned up.”

Whitefish had been set to host matches on Saturday, but those were canceled due to heavy rain.

In the final run of regular season play, Whitefish this week will face Libby, Ronan, Polson, Corvallis and Hamilton. Schwaderer says he’s got a huge week ahead with more matches to narrow down the divisional lineup and it’s going to be a tough call.

“It’s tough, we’re a deep team this year,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of kids who can play and we can only take 10… We just have to figure out now what the best combinations are, where the best chemistry is; so I’m going to take full advantage of this week and all the matches we’ve got to evaluate where we are.”

The Bulldogs were set to play Ronan on Tuesday after press time. Next they will face Libby and Polson in Whitefish on Thursday beginning at noon. Then on Saturday they host Hamilton and Corvallis.

Whitefish 6, Col. Falls 1

Singles

Jayce Cripe (WF) def. Niels Getts 6-3, 6-2. Joe Brandt (WF) def. Orion Barta 6-0, 6-1. Aydin Mulholland (WF) def. Lucas Thacker 6-1, 6-2. Connor Kelly (WF) def. Malachi Brower 6-2, 6-1.

Doubles

Aaron Dicks/Highland Lee-French (WF) def. Cade Morgan/Cody Schweikert 7-6 (8-6), 1-6, 6-4. Dale Blickhan/Nico Lang (CF) def. Mason Kekh/Austin Gunset 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. Fin Stagg/ Jesse Burrough (WF) def. Logan Heuple/Finley Sundberg 6-1, 6-0.

Glacier 6, Whitefish 2

Singles

Rory Smith (Glacier) def. Jayce Cripe 6-0, 6-0. Joe Brandt (WF) def. Will Rudbach 6-1, 6-1. Jake Keller (Glacier) def. Jack Robertson 7-5, 5-7, 6-4. Kyler Knutson (Glacier) def. Aydin Mullholland 2-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Doubles

Aaron Dicks/Highland Lee-French (WF) def. Ethan Purdy/Harrison Sanders 7-6(4), 6-4. Alex Galloway/Trey Engellant (Glacier) def. Austin Gunset/Mason Kelch 6-3, 6-3. Ethan Woods/Timmy Glanville (Glacier) def. Jesse Burrough/Conner Kelly 7-5, 6-1. Simon Roston/Calvin Schmidt (Glacier) def. Jack Pepineir/Neil Bernat 6-1, 7-5.

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