Mission girls repeat as divisional tennis champs

By Karen Peterson

Leader Staff

ST. IGNATIUS — The Lady Bulldogs brought home the Divisionals trophy last week, 36-25, against Troy, to prove that they have a lot of talent as a young team, and will try to repeat that success at state.

“The girls tennis team brought home the championship Divisional tennis trophy for the second year in a row. Also, bringing home medals were Barb Pfeifer who placed first in singles, Shelby Fraker who placed fourth in singles, Frankie Frazzini and Staci Udall placed first in doubles and Anna Fehrs and Ann Tovsrud placed second in doubles,” coach Kimimi Ashley said.

In the championship round, during the doubles competition, teams Frazzini and Udall and Fehrs and Tovsrud ended up playing for first place, but having the top two spots really helped the team’s overall score, too.

“Having two teams in the Doubles Championship round racked up some points for St. Ignatius to bring home the team trophy,” she said.

Recently, a position change put Fraker and Udall together.

“Fraker and Udall changed playing positions the last week of the season in a move that the coaches were thinking would play better to their strengths and get them a stronger road to State play. Fortunately, it was a good decision with them both making the cut to State and showing that they are ready to see what they can do,” she said.

At the Round Robin tournament in Missoula on Saturday, the boy’s team continued to bring home the points.

“Once again, Wyatt McCollum won all of his matches. That put him at winning seven matches in the span of one week. Also, making a good showing was Casey Cable with five wins and Clayton Makepeace with four wins in the span of a week,“ she said.

Josh Bowers, who is part of a doubles team, played singles for this weekend and also won all of his matches in Missoula, Ashley said.

“The boys are playing well and working hard in practices. It’s not going to be an easy road at State this year for any of our players, so, it is nice to see them peaking when it is needed. Our doubles teams have been dealing with sickness for the past two weeks and hopefully will be able to be back on the courts in time for State,” Ashley said.

The State Tennis Tournament is in Missoula on May 17 - 19. Play will start at 8 a.m. On Thursday, the boys will be playing at Play Fair tennis courts and the girls will be at the University of Montana college tennis courts. On Friday and Saturday, they will both be at the U of M tennis courts, Ashley noted.

SINGLES:

Quarterfinals - Faith Stapley (T) def. Shelby Fraker (SI) 6-3, 6-1; Kaelyn Rayson (T) def. Carly Blush (SI) 6-0, 6-0

Semifinals - Barb Pfeifer (SI) def. Faith Stapley (T) 6-3, 6-2; Kaelyn Rayson (T) def. Sara Keeble (SI) 7-6(7-4), 6-0

Championship - Barb Pfeifer (SI) def. Kaelyn Rayson (T) 6-1, 6-0

Consolations - Faith Stapley (T) def. Carly Blush 6-1, 6-1; Shelby Fraker (SI) def. Sara Keeble (SI) 6-7(5-7), 6-3, 6-2;

Third/Fourth place - Faith Stapley (T) def. Shelby Fraker (SI) 10-0

DOUBLES:

Semifinals: Frankie Frazzini/Staci Udall (SI) def. Tiah Davenport/Ashley Stuefen(T) 6-1, 6-0; Anna Fehrs/Ann Tovsrud (SI) def. Liz Smith/Steph Marshall (T) 6-7(4-7), 7-6(7-4), 6-2

Championship: Frazzini/Udall (SI) def. Fehrs/Tovsrud(SI) 6-1, 6-1

Third place: Smith/Marshall (T) def. Davenport/Stuefen(T) 6-2, 6-2