Tennis: Wolfpack on the road for divisional tournament
The Daily Inter Lake
Glacier will head to Missoula this weekend for the Western AA divisional tennis tournament at a slight disadvantage to its competition. The Wolfpack, playing its first season in the West, is the only team from outside Missoula at the meet.
Even as the only team making a lengthy road trip, Glacier is poised to make its mark at divisionals.
The Glacier boys, the four-time defending Northern AA champions, will compete for the title again this season in a different division.
“I think it’s going to be a really competitive division, especially the on boys’ side,” Glacier coach Josh Munro said.
“I would say our boys have a really legitimate shot at winning it.”
The Wolfpack should face tough team competition from Hellgate and Big Sky.
Hunter Blalack and Spencer Johnson lead the charge for Glacier in singles. Blalack has made the divisional finals each of his three previous years, winning the singles title in the North last season. Johnson was on the winning divisional doubles team for the Wolfpack last year.
Big Sky’s Colin Bahin, who topped Blalack in three sets in Helena, will also be among the favorites in singles.
“We should go in with two of the top three and hopefully we can knock off Colin,” Munro said.
In doubles play, Holland Blalack and Sam Stern should enter as one of the top pairings at the meet, and will be playing for top seeding at state next week in Helena.
Hellgate and Sentinel look to be the favorites in the girls’ competition, though the Glacier girls should have a strong contingent competing for spots at state.
Kali Mathison and Amber Hamblin at No. 1 doubles leads the pack for Glacier.
“On the doubles side we have a lot of potential,” Munro said. “They’re all really competitive and on any given day they could knock off some of those Hellgate teams.”
McKenna Tinseth and Shelby O’Dell are the top singles players for the Wolfpack.
“We’re just looking for one of them,” Munro said. “They’ve had really solid years.”
Hellgate sisters Sophia and Olivia Panarello are the favorites in singles for divisional and should make a run at finals in state.
The top four individuals and doubles teams advance to the Class AA state tournament on May 14-15 in Helena.