Prep tennis: Whitefish ready to battle tough Northwest A
Apr. 3—Whitefish has proud tennis programs, with seven state titles for the boys and three for the girls, and the Bulldogs plan to cover all corners this spring.
They'll have plenty of competition across the Northwest A, however. Polson's girls were the top finisher at last year's State, taking fourth; the Libby and Whitefish boys tied for third at state in 2024.
Libby, which boasts the reigning singles champion in Ryan Beagle, also beat Polson 4-3 in a dual on March 21. Columbia Falls and Bigfork fill out a tough league.
Here's a rundown of the Northwest A:
Whitefish
Chris Schwaderer, the longtime boys coach, is taking a voluntary role this season and Doris Puglisi, in her fifth year with the program, takes the reins.
The boys have Jack Oehlerich, sixth at state a year ago, and Owen Erickson back to play singles. On the doubles side there is senior Walt Seigmund and junior Aaron Anderson.
"The new dynamic duo, I call it," Puglisi said. "I hope they will develop into a strong doubles team. They look very good so far."
Puglisi feels she has a young team in which junior Cole Moses needs a new doubles partner. She listed several candidates for that and for the other two singles spots: Sophomore Jack Flink and freshmen Marcus Mercer, Jake Shors and Charlie Oehlerich.
"Those freshmen round out the team nicely and give me a lot of options," she said. "I could not be happier as coach."
Pat Dryden has been coaching girls tennis for much of his 28 years at the school, and says the current squad is deeper than it has been for a while.
"In fact we've had a few challenge matches already," he said.
He does have some players inked in. Liesl Brust, who won a match at state last year as a freshman, is No. 1 in singles. He also has his doubles team of Zoey Marzo and Kamry Kelch back along with Maggie Mercer, who teamed with the graduated Ainsley Scott a year ago.
Mercer needs a new partner, and it could be senior Gretel Vine, freshman Emy Hansen or junior Sophie McCreedy. Hansen, sophomores Delila Vine and Lucy Marzo and freshman Alli Shors are in the mix for singles.
The Bulldogs, up until this week, enjoyed good weather for practice. They'll play Ronan and Bigfork on Friday, and Dillon and Polson on Saturday.
"Polson is always tough," Dryden said. "They have a very athletic team and I think we do as well.
"It's going to come down to the top of our lineup. Our 1s and 2s will have to come through. I'm hoping to get a group through to state like we did last year."
Polson
The Pirates have some experienced kids, but veteran coach Bob Hislop told the Lake County Leader they will be rebuilding, on both sides.
"We have one senior girl and three senior boys," Hislip said. "And no returning all-conference players for the first time in 19 years."
Still, he has Ruger Ellis and Benson Moss at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, and Max Violett and Marcus Lucas at No. 1 doubles. There's also Strider Gage, Teague McElwee and Truman Sawyer, who all saw varsity action. Newcomers Parker Hendrickson and Zayne Newman also figure in somewhere. Gage played singles last week; Moss played doubles once.
The girls have been very good, with a state title in 2018 and back-to-back second-place trophies in 2022-23.
Hislop mixed and matched last week, but the top returnees are Josie Hendrickson, Vivian Grainey, Maddie Lake, Baylee Lemm, Hinkley Moss, Greta Lund and Karly Smith.
The Lady Pirates beat Hamilton 4-3 and Libby 7-0 the first weekend.
Libby
After taking third in singles as a freshman and sophomore, Ryan Beagle made it to the top of the podium last season and accounted for all the Loggers' 16 points at state.
Add a little depth to his efforts, and who knows.
"Of course he has the same goal coming into this year," Libby coach Kyle Hannah said of Beagle.
Hannah has high hopes for the senior doubles tandem of Dylan Warner and Eric Thompson, as well as for Alderic Martineau, who played doubles last season but will compete in singles this spring, "in hopes of being in the van with Ryan, on the way to Billings," Hannah said.
The Libby girls are led by singles players Maggie Fantozzi and Marissa Hollingsworth. Both are seniors.
Columbia Falls
Coach Michelle Colliander has half her top boys doubles team back: Senior Will Pickard, who teamed with Logan Heupel to win two matches last May at state.
Senior Silas Ypma will be Pickard's partner to start the season at least. Colliander also thinks highly of junior Sol Masters and senior Jax Ramage.
On the girls' side, senior Aliyah Arends or sophomore Bailey Windauer seem poised to take over the No. 1 singles spot vacated by the graduated Lexi Oberholtzer. One will be No. 2 singles, and Colliander is pleased to return seniors Alanis Petersen and Luce Love back after the pair made state in doubles in 2024.
Bigfork
Matt Porrovechio has a pretty young team, though he lists Cassy Schicht as a top singles player and Regan Waller and Taylor Howlett as the Valkyries' top doubles team.
For the boys, he's still working on his doubles teams and is excited for the eventual return of singles player Seth Christians from a knee injury suffered in soccer.
The season begins in earnest on Friday. Bigfork plays host to Whitefish and then travels to Libby Saturday.
Libby's Ryan Beagle eyes up a backhand return in a boys singles match against Hamilton's Ryan Purcell at the Class A State Tennis Tournament at Logan Health Medical Fitness Center on Friday, May 24. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
