Rebuilding year for Columbia Falls, Whitefish girls tennis

Columbia Falls played host to Whitefish’s netters Wednesday, and it was the first time the Bulldogs played on an outdoor court this spring.

The City of Whitefish still has its courts under lock and key, and the playing surface has not been cleared of snow and ice yet.

But Whitefish has made the best of it, practicing indoors for now and relishing any chance to get outside to play.

“We've been setting up makeshift nets in the elementary school gym,” Whitefish boys coach Chris Schwaderer said. “We’re a can-do program. We do what we need to do and we don’t complain.”

Thus is the nature of spring sports in Montana and no year is the same as the last. The Whitefish boys were initially scheduled to host the Wildcat boys Thursday, but ended up playing in Columbia Falls.

“We always tell our kids we're gonna start out a little bit behind everybody else just because of the climate and hitting puff balls in a gym,” added Whitefish girls coach Patrick Dryden.

Schwaderer’s Bulldog squad shared the State A title with Billings Central last spring after winning the Northwest A divisional.

Five seniors graduated from that team, but some familiar names return: Dane Hunt and Johnny Nix will team up for doubles, as will Jesse Burrough and Mason Kelch (Kelch and former partner Aaron Dicks were third at state).

“The doubles side we return a lot of experience,” Schwaderer said. “Singles will be pretty brand new from top to bottom. I don’t think anyone coming up played singles last year. But they’re talented and I think they’ll do well.”

Included in that group are several freshmen and others that weren’t ready to make the jump to varsity last year.

The Whitefish girls were fourth at state last spring and lost a staggering number of seniors to graduation.

“We've only got really one returner from last year,” Dryden said. “I mean, I had 10 seniors, not all in the lineup, but it even took away some of our depth. It was just a crazy situation. You'll never see a school our size have 10 seniors.”

Dryden recruited newcomers Ainsley Scott and Maggie Mercer, a sophomore and a junior, and has two more sophomores playing doubles.

“We are extremely young,” Dryden said. “I don't know if I've ever had a team this young. We have zero seniors. It is gonna be a bit of a rebuilding year, but there's no pressure and everybody's been very coachable and doing everything we've asked of them, so it's been a very enjoyable year so far.”

Columbia Falls’ Michelle Colliander is in a similar situation to Dryden, except she has five senior girls, including Zoey Byrd, Cloey Ramage, Lexi Oberholtzer and Poppie Payne.

“We’re in a building here this year and we had a lot of seniors graduate last year, so we've got a great group of kids that came out for tennis and we're just focusing on learning the fundamentals,” she said.

Jax Ramage, Will Pickard and Logan Heupel return to the Wildcat boys team this year, but otherwise the lineup is green as grass.

“I had 24 boys come out for tennis this year, which is awesome,” Colliander said. “And I've got a lot of freshmen, so it's really fun. They're all very high energy kids and I've got only four or five boys that are seniors and so it's a pretty young team, which is awesome.”

Colliander notes that she’s fortunate that Columbia Falls got the high school courts up and running for the team last week.

“Last Monday we got outside,” she said. “I went into the city parks and rec 9 a.m. meeting and I was just like, ‘What can we do to get the nets up?’ And they got 'em up later on that day for me, which was really awesome. So props to the city.”

Polson didn’t lose any boys from the team that placed fifth at state last spring. Most notable is junior Torrin Ellis, a two-time all-state selection who was fifth at state his sophomore year.

“He’s done a lot of work,” Polson coach Bob Hislop said. “He was pretty small his freshman and sophomore year and he’s grown a bit so that should help him.”

Trent Williams and Owen McElwee team up again as the Pirates’ No. 1 doubles team. Also incoming is Colter Williams, though Hislop isn’t sure who he’ll double with yet.

Senior Clara Todd, divisional champion and third at state last year on Polson’s second-place girls team, is back, as is junior Katie Smith. Todd is also a two-time all-state player. Smith and former partner Camilla Foresti were third in Bozeman, and the process of finding her a new partner is underway.

Lucy Violett and Karli Owens are back to play doubles, though not with each other. Piper Hoxie and Hope Morrison are set to play singles.

“It's a pretty competitive conference in the west, the conference is tough and if you come out of that, it gets you ready for state,” Hislop said.

Surprise divisional winner Ryan Beagle and third-place winner at state is a notable returner for Libby. From there the Loggers lineup at singles looks a lot like last year’s with Tyler Anderson, Jennings Greenfield and Thomas Roark on the roster.

Zach Fantozzi and Ayden Montgomery are new doubles partners this year, as are Alderic Martineau and Trevor Collins.

At girls singles, Elaina Covington and Kaitlyn Canary are in the top two spots for the Loggers. And at doubles, Bella Covington and Macey Halvorson, Ellie Andreessen and Allie Thorstenson and Savana Lucas and Kayla Hoff, are all paired the same as last season.

Results for Thursday’s Whitefish and Columbia Falls matches were not available at press time.

Tuesday

BOYS

Libby 7, Columbia Falls 0

Singles

Ryan Beagle (LIB) def. Jax Ramage, 6-0, 6-0.

Tyler Andersen (LIB) def. Logan Heupel, 6-0, 6-1.

Thomas Roark (LIB) def. Karson Warren, 6-4, 6-0.

Jennings Greenfield (LIB) def. Jason Dunsbach, 6-1, 6-1.

Doubles

Trevor Collins/Alderic Martineau (LIB) def. Will Pickard/Silas Ypma, 6-4, 6-2.

Zach Fantozzi/Ayden Montgomery (LIB) def. Oliver McDonald/Rafe Rusche, 6-0, 6-2.

Xavier Reatz/Morgan Davis (LIB) def. Sol Masters/Tiptin Tourville, 6-1, 6-0.

GIRLS

Libby 5, Columbia Falls 2

Singles

Cloey Ramage (CF) def. Elaina Covington, 6-1, 6-0.

Zoey Byrd (CF) def. Kaitlyn Canary, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3.

Maggie Fantozzi (LIB) def. Katie Crockett, 6-2, 6-2.

Marissa Hollingsworth (LIB) def. Aliyah Arends, 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles

Ellie Andreessen/Allie Thorstenson (LIB) def. Zoey Byrd/Katie Crockett, 6-0, 6-1.

Bella Covington/Macey Halvorson (LIB) def. Poppie Payne/Fiona Bryant, 6-0, 6-2.

Savana Lucas/Kayla Hoff (LIB) def. Merrick Fairchild/Maggie Day, 6-0, 6-0.