Getts takes second Northwest A tennis crown

Emily Getts took the Northwest Class A championship in tennis on May 15 in Libby, dropping Paige Sproul of Whitefish 6-0, 6-0 for the crown.

Getts was the lone player from Columbia Falls to qualify for the state Class A tournament in Missoula this week. This is the second consecutive divisional title for the junior.

“Emily’s play at divisionals was exceptional,” coach Gene Marcille said. “She has tennis shots in her arsenal that are just not often seen in high school tennis. One of her biggest strengths is her steadiness, even under great pressure. Though the other girls in the division don’t like losing to her, they do seem to like playing with her because she’s so fair and even friendly while she’s beating them.”

Getts will look to improve her fourth-place finish at state in 2014 — two of the three girls who finished ahead of her last year are back, including defending state champion Laramie McHugh from Corvallis.

“I wasn’t particularly happy with a couple of our seeding positions — particularly our seeding in doubles.” Marcille said. “With that said, our girls rallied to a great finish and played their best tennis of the year. Senior Hailey Sapa and doubles partners Sydney Grilley and Morgan Stenger fought their way through the consolation bracket and came up just a little short for that trip to state.” 

As a team, the Kats took third. The boys had a tougher time, coming in last with just six points. Brock Denny and Trevor Wick made it to the second round of the consolation finals in doubles, but that’s as far as they got.