Ellis, Kenyon make noise at state meet
Whitefish’s tennis duo of Camp Kenyon
and Connor Ellis pulled out a few impressive wins at the state
Class A tournament in Great Falls last week, knocking off a
favorite along the way.
After losing their opening round to
Havre in windy conditions, the doubles team rebounded with a huge
win over division rival Polson. Kenyon and Ellis hadn’t beat
Polson’s No. 1 team all season, but easily took them down in two
quick sets.
“That win was really big,” Whitefish
coach Chris Schwaderer said. “They handled them and played some of
their best tennis of the year.”
The juniors rode the momentum into the
next match were they knocked off Glendive in two sets, setting up a
match with Corvallis the next day.
After losing the first set to
Corvallis, the duo made some adjustments and rolled in the second.
They were up 5-4 in the third, but Corvallis rallied to edge
Whitefish in the end.
“Somehow it slipped away,” Schwaderer
said.
Overall, it was a good showing, the
coach noted.
“They beat teams they didn’t think they
could beat, and they made good progress through the back side of
the bracket,” Schwaderer said. “We could have gone even
farther.”
Schwaderer looks forward to having the
duo back again next year and hopes they build on the experience
gained at state.
“We have a lot of kids that developed
and got so much better,” Schwaderer said.