Doubles teams sweep Bigfork

The Lady Bulldogs tennis team came up

just short in their opening dual against Bigfork on Saturday, but

the 3-4 defeat left Whitefish coach Patrick Dryden optimistic about

the season.

“I’m very encouraged by the dual,”

Dryden said. “We’re really young, and I’m excited to build the

program.”

Nine of the 10 girls in the starting

line up are either freshman or sophomores.

Bigfork swept each of the singles

matches, but Whitefish countered with wins in each of the

doubles.

“We were out-gunned in the singles

matches, but we’re much deeper than they are,” Dryden said.

Sophomores Megan Danczyk and Lindsey

Viscomi earned the win at No. 1 doubles, impressing both Dryden and

Bigfork coach Paul Wallin.

“He wanted to know how long they’ve

been playing together,” Dryden said. “I told him, ‘About

24-hours.’”

Haley Craven and Ryan Chauner played

No. 2 doubles and showed “a lot of athleticism” in the win. Lauren

Cain and Hailey Vasquez won at the No. 3 double position with a

first-set tiebreaker.

Dryden noted that singles players

Simone Craft, Caroline Carbo and Sloan Ellis looked strong, and

that the scores don’t show exactly how well they played.

“Tennis scoring can be cruel,” Dryden

said. “They’re all very coachable and just need some more practice.

We might take our lumps now, but we hope to peak by divisional.

They have to remember that at this time last week, they had snow

shovels in their hands, not tennis racquets.

“I saw a lot of smiles on the court,

and that’s the key. We have to keep it all in perspective.”

Whitefish hosts conference foe Libby on

Thursday, then hosts both Stevensville and Hamilton on

Saturday.