Whitefish girls tennis three-for-three to begin season

In less than ideal weather, Whitefish girls tennis defeated each team it faced last week.

Starting off the season by hosting Columbia Falls on Thursday, the Lady Bulldogs took down their rival 6-1. Then over the weekend, Whitefish traveled to Polson for a set of duals. The girls defeated Polson 5-2 and Dillon 4-3.

“It was just an exciting weekend; to get in three matches was just what we needed,” Girls tennis coach Patrick Dryden said.

The coach expressed he saw some first-game jitters in the girls, but after they got the nerves out of the way the tennis was good all weekend. Dillon and Polson had played significantly more matches already this season, but Whitefish came away with several wins.

Though expecting singles to be the strength of the team this year with several returners, Dryden says in the opening weekend he was impressed with the doubles teams who are now 8-1 to start the season.

At No. 1 doubles, the team of Emma Trieweiler and Tallory Workman defeated Wildkats’ Grace Gedlaman and Alyssa Williams 6-2, 6-4. Then the Whitefish team continued their winning streak by defeating teams out of Polson and Dillon.

“Tallory Workman and Emma Trieweiler won a couple of really big conference matches, so they’re well on their way to getting one of the top seeds at the divisional tournament,” the coach expressed.

Also playing doubles is the team of Elliette Haigh and Ashley Gunset who went 2-1 over the week. Dryden says those top two doubles teams are both highly competitive and either could be the No. 1 team going forward.

For Whitefish’s singles players, Lauren Brown and Anyah Cripe are at the top — each playing between the No.1 and No. 2 spots. Brown had a couple of tough three-set losses to Columbia Falls and Polson, but then defeated Dillon’s No. 2 player Alanah Rose 6-1, 6-1. Cripe went 2-0 over Columbia Falls and Dillon, but unfortunately had to pull out of her match against Polson with an injury.

“Coming into the season I really thought the singles were going to be our strength, we had a lot of returners there,” Dryden said. “We had some good matches from our singles players but we also dropped a couple of excruciating, long three-setters.”

He added that Emma Shaffer and Alivia Lusko, in the varsity No. 3 and 4 spots, both lost matches in the morning against Dillon, but came back in the afternoon to defeat their Polson opponents — really delivering a boost to the team.

Whitefish was set to play Libby on Tuesday after press time. Then the team travels to Ronan on Thursday.

Whitefish 6, Columbia Falls 1

Singles

Cloey Ramage, CF, def. Lauren Brown 6-1, 3-6, 7-5; Anyah Cripe, WF, def. Lillian McDonald 6-1, 6-2; Emma Shaffer, WF, def. Mackenzie Nelson 6-3, 6-1; Alivia Lusko, WF, def. Anne Lybert 6-0, 6-0.

Doubles

Tallory Workman/Emma Trieweiler, WF, def. Grace Gedlaman/Alyssa Williams 6-2, 6-4; Elliette Haigh/Ashley Gunset, WF, def. Ava Foley/Lexi Oberholzer 6-0, 6-0; Addie Oehlerich/Piper Dudley, WF, def. Kati Crockett/Clare Stewart 6-1, 6-3.

Whitefish 4, Dillon 3

Singles

Anyah Cripe, WF, def. Emma Mitchell 7-5, 6-2; Lauren Brown, WF, def. Alanah Rose 6-1, 6-1; Brooklyn Williams, D, def. Emma Shaffer 6-3, 7-5; MiKelle Mosher, D, def. Alivia Lusko, 7-5.

Doubles

Rachel Fluckinger/Eden Kindberg, D, def. Ashley Gunset/Elliette Haight 6-2, 6-3; Emma Trieweiler/Tallory Workman, WF, def. Aubrey Hawley/Cayenne McCabe 6-2, 6-0; Addie Oehlarich/Lauren Salem, WF, def. Jessica Harrison/Laura Martin, 6-3, 6-2.

Whitefish 5, Polson 2

Clara Todd, P, def. Lauren Brown, 1-6, 6-3, 6-3; Katie Smith, P, def. Anyah Cripe, 0-6, 7-6 (6), inj.; Emma Shaffer, WF, def. Hope Morrison, 6-4, 6-3; Alivia Lusko, WF, def. Karli Owen, 6-3, 6-3.

Doubles

Tallory Workman/Emma Trieweiler, WF, def. Sierra Lundeen/Liz Tolley, 6-2, 6-3; Elliette Haigh/Ashley Gunset, WF, def. Summer Newman/Lucy Violeit, 6-1, 6-1; Addie Oehlerich/Lauren Solem, WF, def. Lauren Collinge/Sasha McCoy 6-2, 6-0.