Glacier, Flathead netters stay home

Thus far, the weekend tennis schedule for Glacier and Flathead has been filled with invitational play and trips to Missoula, three times, and Helena, one.

This weekend, however, both schools get to park the bus.

Glacier and Flathead are co-hosting a seven-team invitational on Saturday. The schools doing the traveling for this one are C.M. Russell, Great Falls High, and all three Missoula schools - Big Sky, Hellgate and Sentinel.

Play will begin at 9 a.m. at three locations around town.

East Side Park, formerly Thompson Park, will accommodate girls No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles. Boys No. 4 singles and No. 3 doubles will be played at Hawthorne Park, located off of Liberty Street. Both locations have two courts.

Tournament headquarters, and the rest of play, will be at the courts at Flathead Valley Community College.

All total, there will be 169 matches in the flighted event.

The invitational will be a preview of sorts for next week's divisional competition. State tournament action follows May 22-23 in Bozeman.

"At this point, for my team, to gain as much experience and gain a little more confidence in their varsity careers," FHS coach Buck Measure said of what he's looking for this weekend.

"A lot of them are new to varsity matches."

Jon Cattron and Brett Harrison, both juniors, have enjoyed mixed results in their first year as No. 1 doubles partners for Flathead.

The same goes for junior Ben Stone, No. 2 singles, and freshman Jonathan Pfeifer, No. 1 singles.

"He (Pfeifer) hasn't had a lot of wins on the year, but he's consistently improving the number of games he wins in a match," Measure said.

As far as the FHS girls are concerned, junior Maxine Sugarman and senior Izzy Makman will team up at No. 1 doubles for just the second time this season.

"With their tennis backgrounds, I think it will be a great (pairing)," Measure said.

"In the one dual they played earlier, they did very well (considering they were) thrown together at the last moment."

Measure said sophomore Andrea Dattello and freshman Annie Marshall, who have played either No. 2 or 3 doubles throughout the season, "have had a fair amount of success."

In singles play, Bravette junior Lisa Kelecy has battled at the No. 1 slot.

"She has done a good job of keeping her spirits high in a very tough division on the west side," Measure said.

"There are a lot of good singles players (over here)."

One of those is Glacier super sophomore Liana Bates. She is currently 15-1 on the season with her lone loss to Ellie Crum, a junior from Great Falls High.

Crum has finished third in AA state singles the last two years.

Bates and Crum will most likely meet again in Saturday's final at No. 1 singles.

"Ellie plays a very controlled game and does not make a lot of mistakes," Glacier coach Josh Munro said.

"Liana has to maintain her patience and stick with the game plan. She tries a lot of different things and sometimes that gets to her a little bit."

Also playing No. 1 singles for the Wolfpack will be Cami Mathison, 14-5.

"A real solid player," Munro said of Mathison.

Lindsea Vaudt and Rachel Sherrill, No. 1 doubles, are coming off a strong showing in Missoula, where they finished second.

Either Patrick Phattharaampornchai, 6-8, or Jon Hammett, 4-3, will play in the No. 1 slot for Glacier.

"Last year he had some illness late in the season, which hurt (his progress)," Munro said of Phattharaampornchai.

"This year, he's getting stronger with every match."

Munro calls Hammett "a sleeper."

"He's not a power hitter, but you can't get the ball by him most of the time. He's a backboard."

In doubles, Glacier is led by Kyle Schmauch and Brandon Simpson at No. 1.

"A pair of athletic kids," Munro said.

"Only the second year they've played tennis.

"They have been playing roughly for 15 months," he continued.

"They have improved a ton. Last year, their first win was at this tournament, or divisional. This year, they have won pretty consistently."