Tennis squads, depleted by field trip have tough time against Bulldogs

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls High School tennis teams had another rough outing Monday afternoon against Whitefish High School, partly due to the absence of several key members on both the boys and girls teams.

The girls managed to win two matches against the Lady Bulldogs, but didn't have their best outing.

Freshman Sarah Marcille continued her strong season, winning the No. 4 singles 0-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 after battling back from an early hole.

Seniors Crystal Nieves and Nikki Freebury also played well, winning the No. 1 doubles 6-4, 6-3.

In No. 1 singles, senior Mayumi Too lost 0-6, 1-6. Senior Rosemary Dalimata lost 0-6, 1-6 in No. 2 singles and junior Lisa Carter lost 0-6, 4-6 in No. 3 singles.

Coach Jerry Smalley said that it was a "super job by Sarah Marcille" to win her match.

Juniors Donna Burns and Emily Emmerts lost in No. 2 doubles 1-6, 1-6 and juniors Chelsea Smith and Jessica Hopkins lost in No. 3 doubles 2-6, 3-6.

Smalley said that now the teams' focus will be on Divisionals.

"Not our best night/day of tennis, but we were missing some girls and now we've got some time to prep for Divisionals," he said.

For the boys, they went winless against the Bulldogs, but Smalley said they were "missing five boys to a Close-Up trip."

Sophomore Jeremy Loween won the only set for the Wildcats in the No. 3 singles, but still lost his match 4-6, 6-4, 3-6.

The boys had to forfeit two singles matches due to absences and senior Friedrich Von Schweinitz lost the other singles match 1-6, 2-6.

In doubles, junior Chuck Sneddon and senior Kevin Kropp lost 0-6, 0-6 in the No. 1 match, freshman Casey Hebert and Cody Maynard lost 2-6, 0-6 in the No. 2 match and freshman Blake Thueson and junior Nate Luke lost 1-6, 0-6 in the No. 3 match.

The teams have two matches this Saturday against Libby and Ronan, the final tune-ups before Divisionals.