Polson tennis shakes rust, looks strong

POLSON - Polson girls' tennis got off to a good start on a frigid spring weekend as the Lady Pirates took three of four matches last weekend against top-notch competition from around the area.

"It was a great first weekend for the kids," head coach Bob Hislop said. "Cold weather was the only negative."

The girls overcame intermittent snow, wind and cold to beat Bigfork 6-1 and Corvallis 5-2 on Friday before falling to Hamilton 3-4 and defeating Libby 5-2 on Saturday. Doubles play was especially strong, as the girls won 10 of 12 matches throughout the weekend, going 5-1 during play Friday and Saturday.

Hislop was impressed with the play of junior Kendyall Rochin, who went undefeated during the weekend in three singles and one doubles match. Her closest call was Friday morning against Bigfork, where she survived after losing the first set 5-7. She went on to win the second in a tiebreaker 7-6 (7-2) and 6-4 in the third, deciding set. Kendyall won her other two singles matches in straight sets before teaming up with her sister, senior Kayla, in a doubles match against Libby, prevailing 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

"Kendyall Rochin went undefeated and beat three real strong state level singles players," Hislop said.

The head coach was also impressed with sophomore Audra Engebretson, a new player this season, who also went undefeated over the weekend in three doubles and one singles match. Engebretson did not lose a set in any of her four matches, including a 6-0, 6-0 win against Hamilton during her lone singles match of the two days.

"Audra Engebretson also went undefeated playing singles and doubles over the four matches," Hislop said.

While only taking one of four matches against the same opponents as the girls, Hislop was happy with the results of individuals on the boys' team. The Pirates fell to Bigfork 3-4 and Corvallis 1-6 on Friday, as well as Hamilton 2-5 on Saturday, before taking down tough Northwestern A opponent Libby 4-3 Saturday afternoon.

The Pirates doubles match-ups went well Friday, as all four of the team's combined wins were from doubles play, including winning all three doubles matches against Bigfork in the morning.

"[Senior] Shad Giles and [junior] Justin Evertz had a fabulous Friday of tennis, but struggled on Saturday morning against [Alex] Cislo and [TJ] Benson of Libby," Hislop said. Giles and Evertz, one of the top doubles pairings, went undefeated Friday, not losing a set in beating a Bigfork pair 6-3, 7-5, before taking down a Corvallis duo 6-4, 7-6 (7-1).

"[Senior] Matt Roberts had an excellent weekend of play in singles even though he only picked up one win. He played smart and with a little more experience will be a contender in Northwestern A," Hislop said. Roberts took two of his three losses to three sets before beating his Libby opponent 6-1, 6-1 in helping the Pirates secure its only victory of the weekend.

"With the youth of the boys' and girls' teams, I was very pleased with the level of play over the weekend," Hislop said. "The nice part about getting matches is that now we have a lot better idea of what to work on."

The Pirates play at Columbia Falls today before heading to Cut Bank for the Cut Bank Invitational on Friday and Saturday.