TENNIS: Whitefish girls win state championship

BOZEMAN — The Whitefish girls locked up the school’s first Class A state tennis championship since 2004 before the finals even started on Friday.

The Bulldogs placed two teams in the doubles finals on the second day of play, guaranteeing 29 points and a state championship.

Seniors Katie Fyall and Anna Peterson defeated previously-unbeaten Glendive pair Marenah Crockett and Ceeara Staiger 6-2, 7-5 to advance to the final. Crockett and Staiger finished second at state last season.

Bulldogs senior Heather Luedke and Hannah Madsen beat a Dillon duo 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the final and clinch the title.

Fyall and Peterson prevailed in the final, winning 6-3, 6-3. By that time, the trophy was already theirs.

“It went perfectly, it was a dream, everything fell into place,” Whitefish coach Patrick Dryden said. “These kids they really played hard. These two doubles teams have been together for two years. They’ve been battling against each other every day at practice. They just made each other better until they reached the top of the state.”

Bulldogs senior Lily Szundy won a consolation singles match on Thursday to earn the only other point for Whitefish and give her team 30 points, a school record at the state tournament.

The 2004 champions, the only others in school history, won with 29 points. The Whitefish boys have won seven state titles, most recently in 2008.

Columbia Falls’ Emily Getts finished in fourth place in singles for a third straight season, falling to Livingston’s Emilee Coleman in the consolation final 6-3, 6-4.

Polson’s Marlee Congdon lost in three sets in the semifinals to eventual runner-up Madisan Chavez of Hardin and lost to Getts 7-6(3), 6-1 in the consolation semifinals.

Congdon settled for a fifth place finish, beating Glendive’s Alyssa Kessel 6-4, 6-1.

Billings Central’s Barclay Fagg won the singles title for the second straight year, topping Chavez 6-0, 6-0 in the championship match.

Whitefish’s Max Smyley earned three points for his team, beating Lewistown’s Danyon Rice 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 before losing to Dillon’s Bradley Rakich in the next round. Rakich finished sixth.

Polson duo Quaid Harlan and Jaron Morgan finished in sixth in boys doubles, losing to Havre’s Jerod Boles and Jake Sedahl in the fifth place match 6-4, 6-3.

The Billings Central boys won the team title for the fourth straight year, scoring 32 points, thanks to singles champion Harrison Fagg and the winning doubles team of Simon Marshall and Joey Nichols. Fagg was a doubles champion last season.

Teams began the day in Livingston until rain blew through, halting contests around noon.

The remainder of the tournament was completed in Bozeman.

Class A State Tennis

Friday At Bozeman

Team Scores

Girls

Whitefish 30, Billings Central 19, Dillon 16, Hardin 15, Glendive 14, Polson 14, Livingston 13, Columbia Falls 8, Belgrade 2, Corvallis 1.

Boys

Billings Central 32, Glendive 26, Havre 18, Corvallis 11, Dillon 9, Hardin 8, Hamilton 8, Stevensville 5, Polson 4, Park 3, Whitefish 3, Fergus 2, Belgrade 2, Butte Central 1.