Sanders and partner Glanville have eyes on success at state

Harrison Sanders and his doubles partner Timmy Glanville are all smiles whenever they’re on the court together, and they have good reason to be jovial: The pair is 11-2 in matches this spring heading into the Northern AA divisional, which begins today in Great Falls.

Sanders was fifth as a singles player at the AA state tournament last year, and third in doubles with partner Ethan Purdy in 2021. His freshman season was canceled due to Covid-19.

“He’s got a little bit of everything, which really helps,” Glacier tennis coach Josh Munro said. “He can grind it out with people in some cross court battles, but he can also get up to the net. He's just fast. That's a big asset for him. He has very good recognition and anticipation of what his opponents are trying to do. He is good at seeing the open court and making things happen.”

Sanders’ speed was an asset for him on the pitch, too. Last fall he led the Wolfpack with 11 goals and earned All-State honors.

But if you ask him, tennis wins out for his favorite sport.

“I've played soccer my whole life, but I do love tennis,” Sanders said. “I love the team. It's a lot of my really close friends that I've known since I was really little. And we just have so much fun every time we come and play.”

Sanders and Glanville, both seniors, might make a good pair regardless, but their lifelong friendship lends itself to a unique chemistry on the court.

“Timmy, me and him have been best friends since probably kindergarten and we both are super emotional people, so we get super excited for every point,” Sanders said. “We're going to different colleges and I think it's a super fun way to end our senior year together and just try to go out there and compete and do well at state.”

Their playing styles mesh perfectly, Munro notes.

“Their styles are very complimentary,” he said. “They both can do a lot of things. Neither of them are afraid of being at the net — they’re really aggressive players, which is nice. Harrison can definitely help bail them out of a few situations and then anything near the net, Timmy can finish.”

Sanders is headed to Montana State in the fall, but opted not to play a sport. Instead he’ll focus on majoring in business management, which he says is spurred by his involvement in Distributive Education Clubs of America (DECA) all through high school.

“I've loved it,” Sanders said. “It's been so much fun. So much fun.”

The two losses on Sanders and Glanville’s record this spring came at the hands of Gallatin’s Brody Smith and Braden Butler, and C.M. Russell’s Josh Stimac and Brady Pike.

Munro is heartened by the fact that each loss came in third set tiebreakers and happy that the team got a glimpse of some opponents they might encounter at state.

“They won the first set pretty handily and then had a little bit of a second set lull,” Munro said. “But they're also playing two of the best teams in the state. It was really nice to see at least Gallatin and Bozeman because we just haven't seen as much of that style of play and a lot of those kids are older than some of the ones we've been playing.”

“We're gonna go win hopefully those third sets when it comes down to it, I think we think we got the endurance,” Sanders said. “I think we're good enough to beat those teams. I'm just trying to soak it all in, just enjoy it. It's gonna be fun regardless of what happens.”

CMR is one team that Glacier will see at the Northern AA divisional this week. The Rustlers interrupted the Glacier boys’ streak of 10 straight divisional championships last spring and then went on to share the team title with Bozeman at the state tournament. Glacier won state in 2021.

“Realistically it's gonna be an interesting dead heat with them,” Munro said. “We’re likely to split a lot of the state spots, but there's a lot of Flathead and Great Falls High kids that can get in. It's hard to say, but it should come down to us and CMR at least on the boys side.”

Glacier has a strong doubles lineup besides Sanders and Glanville, including Trey Engellant and Ethan Woods. On the girls’ side, Haven Speer and Sarah Downs are unbeaten in 13 matches. Colette Daniels and Katy Bitney are 10-4, and Cadence and Cassidy Daniels are 12-1.

Will Rudbach (13-2) and Kutuk White (12-4) hope to make a splash in boys singles.

Flathead, on the other hand, is a little stronger at singles than at doubles, especially on the girls side.

“The team has a lot more experience this year, boys and girls,” second-year coach Travis Cattron said. “We have quite a few seniors who aren't able to travel on the girls team for academic reasons, but the girls we have playing and the lineup are really strong. Our top few singles, we're looking for them to get wins and get through divisionals, and on the boys side as well, our number one singles has a pretty good shot at it.”

Alexis Kersten is Flathead’s No. 1 girls singles player and has scored some big wins recently against top players from Bozeman and Gallatin. On the boys side, Quaid Ring hopes to get through to state in singles play.

The Northern AA divisional starts today at 10:30 a.m. in Great Falls. The Western A divisional also begins today in Corvallis. Both tournaments run through Friday.