Whitefish netters solid at Flathead Invite

The senior and freshman doubles team of Meredith Reed and Kendall Sattler scored the only win for Whitefish in a tennis dual with rival Columbia Falls on May 6 — marking the first and likely the last time the pair will play together.

"Both are really good singles players, and we wanted to try them as a team," Lady Bulldog tennis coach Mike Watson said. "They did really well. It would be nice to keep them as a doubles team, but we need them at singles. Kendall, being a freshman, needs a chance to play more singles for the experience."

The team topped Franki Anderson and Pepper Borland 6-5, 6-5 in a grueling match where Whitefish used strong play at the net and great baseline hitting to pull out the win.

With the score 2-3 in favor of Columbia Falls, Reed made two digs in the back left corner of the court to keep a long volley alive, and then finished the point with a long hit that dropped deep in the 'Kats' court.

Whitefish fell behind again in the first set 4-5, but Reed scored two points in a row at deuce to even up the match.

After taking the first set 6-5, Sattler opened the second set by owning the net. The freshman dropped two shots in a row to open up a 2-1 advantage that the team wouldn't relinquish.

Watson noted that the team also tried a new doubles team that put sisters Ryan Chauner and Bailey Chauner together. They lost 6-0, 6-4, but Watson said they made a nice push at the end to make it a competitive match.

"They started slow but made a nice comeback," he said. "They play well together as sisters."

On Saturday, the team took part in the Flathead Invitational, pitting the best Class AA teams in Western Montana against each other. Whitefish was the only A team in the tourney, and managed to pull off a few wins before the meet was forced to end early due to weather.

Courtney Wilder won a first-round match over Flathead's McCall Smith 6-3, 6-5, and Tara Sullivan won 6-2, 6-3 over Flathead's Jaryn Ravetto in the consolation round.

Watson commended the team's effort against the bigger schools, which brought a higher level of competition to the court than typically seen in Class A.

"The AA teams are strong in tennis this year," he said. "It was good to have our girls go up against better players, especially with divisionals coming up."

Earlier in the week, the Whitefish JV team played in the Flathead Davis Cup and scored five wins.

Karrisa DeMarco and Emily Blumhardt each won at singles, and the doubles team of Shannon Craft and Emma Marchetti picked up two wins.

Columbia Falls 6, Whitefish 1

Singles - Gabrielle Stenger, CF, def. Courtney Wilder, 6-1, 7-5; Natalie Law, CF, def. Tara Sullivan, 6-3, 6-1; Tamara Kolatschek, CF, def. Megan Danczyk, 6-0, 6-1; Elena Potter, CF, def. Alexa Holliday, 6-3, 6-1.

Doubles - Lexie Bartkoski/Marissa Getts, CF, def. Anne Miller/Hannah Weaver, 6-2, 6-3; Meredith Reed/Kendall Sattler, WF, def. Franki Anderson/Pepper Borland, 6-5, 6-5; Shay Grilley/Courtney Tamburelli, CF, def. Bailey Chauner/Ryan Chauner, 6-0, 6-4.