Tennis teams polish off opponents

The Viking and Valkyrie tennis players

made the most of their final week of the regular season as they

swept Ronan, Columbia Falls and nearly Libby as well.

The busy week of tennis for the Bigfork

team started in Ronan where the Vikings went undefeated in all

seven matches and the Valkyries won six of their seven.

“They played really well. They continue

to make some really great progress,” said Paul Wallin, Bigfork

tennis coach. “Ronan wasn’t the stiffest competition for us, but it

was just about getting on the court and getting some more sets

under their belt.”

Junior Mckinze Shults earned a victory

in the No. 1 singles spot, defeating Josie Benedetti 6-4, 6-4.

“Mckinze Shults had a really nice

match,” Wallin said. “Both of them really tried to work the ball.

It wasn’t one of those matches where they just hit the ball back

and forth in the middle of the court. They both had some strategy

that they were trying to work. Mckinze was just a little bit

steadier.

In Libby on Friday it was Shults’ solid

play that again earned her a win over her opponent. She beat Kaya

Hardgrove 6-1, 6-2 in the No. 1 singles match.

“Mckinze played another smart match

just working the other person back and forth,” Wallin said. “One of

the things I really like about Mckinze is that she is very steady.

She may lose a couple of points in a row, but she doesn’t let it

get her down. She is very mentally strong.”

While in Libby, Bigfork also worked

some matches in with players from Troy. This helped give the Vikes

and Vals some needed court time.

“Shane Parks and Kyle Campbell had two

really long matches,” Wallin said. “They lost to Troy, but the two

hard matches that they had in Libby and Troy gives them good

experience that will help them at state. I’m counting on them for

some advancement points.”

On Monday night the Bigfork boys hosted

Columbia Falls and beat them 4-3.

The Vikings won all of the singles

matches and the Wildcats won all of the doubles matches, including

the No. 3 doubles match, which Bigfork had to forfeit.

Junior Colter Mahlum played in the No.

1 singles spot for Bigfork and beat Brian Parker 6-4, 6-3.

“Colter controlled the tempo of the

match,” Wallin said. “He hung in there when his opponent made a

strong charge in the second set. It was a good experience for

him”

Picking up a loss in the No. 1 doubles

spot were Bigfork seniors Ryan Gembala and Evan Jordt. They were

defeated by Vadim Zvygelskiy and Miroslav Zvygelskiy 7-5, 7-5,

6-3.

“They lost it because in doubles you

can’t win a match from the back of the court,” Wallin said. “They

need to come up to the front of the court and dominate at the net.

Otherwise you’re giving up too much court.”

The final push

It is crunch time now for the Bigfork

tennis team.

The girls played their final regular

season match Tuesday. (Those results were not available prior to

press time and will be in next week’s Eagle.)

On Friday and Saturday the Valkyries

will battle for a spot at the state tournament in the Western B/C

Divisional Tournament.

Shults will play in the No. 1 singles

spot, senior Ariel Stallknecht will play in the No. 2 spot,

freshman Alanis Stallknecht will play in the No. 3 singles spot and

junior Miranda Miller will play in the No. 4.

The No. 1 doubles duo will be senior

Hannah Barrett and junior Kianna Wicklund. Sophomores Makenna

Gembala and Shelby Scoggins will be the No. 2 duo.

In order to advance to state, those

playing singles must place in the top six and those playing doubles

must finish in the top four.

“I feel confident about how we’re going

to do in our matches and I think we will be successful overall,”

Wallin said. “It’s two long days of tennis. Given good weather we

should be able to get through it. I’m generally optimistic about

how the girls will play.”

The Valkyries will face players from

Troy, Mission and Eureka at divisionals.

“We’ve had pretty good success against

these teams. It comes down to pairings though in a lot of ways. A

lot of teams have been doing the same as we are in Bigfork in that

they have girls playing in different spots during the regular

season than they will at divisional. Some played up or down or in

singles or doubles and at the tournament that won’t necessarily be

the case,” Wallin said.

Meanwhile the boys will be playing

challenge matches among each other to determine who will play on

the state team and in what seeds.

In Class B and C there is no divisional

tournament. Each school is allowed to take four singles and two

doubles teams to the tournament.

The Class B/C State Tennis Tournament

for boys and girls is May 19-21 at the University of Montana in

Missoula.