Ronan wins sets, matches, no meets

POLSON — For a small and young Ronan tennis team going up against some of the tougher Class A competition like Polson and Whitefish was a learning experience.

“We are a very young and inexperienced team and we met experience this weekend and it showed in the scores,” Ronan head coach Gordon Cummings said.

Despite being shut out by Polson and taking only two matches with each the boys and girls teams against Whitefish, there were some positive moments for the Chiefs and Maidens.

At No. 1 singles, Ronan’s Sage Burland put together a pretty tough match against Polson’s Tyler Engebretson, forcing a third set with a 7-5 tiebreaker win in the second stanza.

“He had a really good divisional tournament last year, he’s somebody who’s worked hard at it and he continues to improve,” Cummings said.

After facing Polson Saturday, the team went on to play Whitefish.

“The kids played better later in the day against Whitefish,” Cummings said, adding that he is still using these pre-divisional matches to sort out the lineup.

The best doubles performance in that competition came from Ronan freshman Chase Allen and sophomore Riley Cordis at the No. 3 spot. The pair lost in two sets but managed to win four games in the first set and five in the second. A couple more strokes in Ronan’s favor, and that one could have flipped for the Chiefs.     

On the girls’ end, the team was down its best hitter for the day. Brit Courville was out sick, which spelled trouble for the Maidens.

“When Brit’s in the lineup, it gives you different options with the other players,” Cummings said. “Otherwise you have to move everybody up and playing with inexperienced players it puts them in even a harder position to play.”

It meant Carly Blush headed up the No. 1 singles position on Saturday. Blush took one set against Whitefish’s Meredith Reed, no small feat playing at that level.

Ronan’s No. 3 and No. 4 singles followed up with wins in their matches. Senior Brittany Cheff did it at the No. 3 spot in two sets 6-4, 6-2.

The other was freshman Amber Metzger, who took her match 6-3, 6-0.

“Both of them needed that boost of winning a match,” Cummings said. “They came out and played good, solid and smart tennis.”

Ronan hosts Mission on Friday. Even though they are a team from just down the road, Cummings looks at it like any match.

“There’s been years when we won and there’s been years when we’ve gone down and lost. I don’t look at it like a cross-town rivalry,” Cummings said. “It’s just another match. We’re trying to get the kids to learn the game and be better at it.”

Ronan hosts Corvallis at 10 a.m. and Hamilton at 3 p.m. on Saturday.