BATTLE IN THE VALLEY

RONAN — Ronan and Mission tennis teams battled each other on the court on Thursday, April 19, with each school winning once while the teams enjoyed success in other matches.

Opening up the week, the Lady Bulldogs avenged an earlier season loss to the Ronan Maidens by downing them 4-2 while the Chiefs defeated the Bulldogs 6-0 for the second time on the year.

RONAN — Ronan and Mission tennis teams battled each other on the court on Thursday, April 19, with each school winning once while the teams enjoyed success in other matches.

Opening up the week, the Lady Bulldogs avenged an earlier season loss to the Ronan Maidens by downing them 4-2 while the Chiefs defeated the Bulldogs 6-0 for the second time on the year.

For the girls, Mission’s Sarah Bowers used a quick start to her advantage, winning 6-0, 6-3 over the Maidens’ Amber Metzger, while teammate Jane Makepeace finished strong against Ronan’s Brianna Frank in a 7-5, 6-1 victory. The Lady Bulldogs swept singles play thanks to wins at No. 3 and No. 4 by Kayla Billette and Briar Ahlborn. Billette defeated Tashina Barnaby 6-4, 7-5 while Ahlborn rallied from a tough second set to defeat Hannah Bird Rattler 6-0, 2-6, 6-1.

“Briar is on fire at the moment,” Sara Ison, Mission girls tennis coach, said. “When she first started, she wasn’t having much success in singles, so I shook things up and put her in doubles. It was good for her strokes but it also put a fire in her belly to show me she was ready to play singles again. This week, I let her challenge for that spot and she handily earned it.”

The Maidens rallied for a doubles win thanks to the performance of Katelyn Matkovich and Taylor Courville, who earned a 6-0, 6-0 win against Cecelia Koskela and Cierra Dougherty.

“They’ve been working hard and are ready to shine,” Ronan head coach Gordan Cummings said. “They went to state last year and know what it takes to get back there.”

Seri Smith and Darian Blixt-Leo earned a forfeit win, but saw action and were successful against Billette and Camilla Sansonetti, winning 6-3, 6-0.

In boys action, the Chiefs were impressive thanks to strong performances across the board.

“We came out ready to play,” Cummings said. “I talked to them about it because we had a slow start versus Troy. I asked one of our players what the difference was this time and he said, ‘We got off the bus.’”

No. 1 singles player Hunter Shima continued his roll, defeating Karl Daniels 6-2, 6-3, Kyle Yankey notched a 6-2, 6-4 win over Felix Sonntag, Spencer Sucha earned a 6-0, 6-1 victory against Troy Bontrager and Ronny Cullis gained momentum against Chris Camel as the match went along, winning 6-3, 6-0.

Top doubles team Daniel Aylesworth and Tyler Anderson received a challenge from Harry Suta and Katz Yelsa before capturing a 6-2, 7-5 win, while No. 2 doubles team Logan Soukala and Joey Dresen defeated RJ Blood and Zeeshaun Ali 6-0, 6-1.

Mission Tennis

ST. IGNATIUS — Following their victory over the Maidens, the Lady Bulldogs hosted Eureka and split with the guests 3-3 on Friday, April 20.

Bowers, Makepeace and Ahlborn each earned their second victory of the week in singles action, with Bowers downing Angela Bailey 7-5, 6-1, Makepeace making quick work of Kathryn Stein 6-1, 6-1 and Ahlborn dispatching Courtney Harmon 6-0, 6-1. Billette, at No. 3 singles, battled hard, but fell to Bethany Bahlman 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Koskela and Dougherty, Mission’s only doubles team against Eureka, nearly captured their first set, but were handed a 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 loss by Megan Duram and Tori Gondeiro. Despite the loss, Koskela and Dougherty impressed coach Ison.

“Cecelia and Cierra really surprised me with how well they did,” Ison said. “They make a really good pair and compliment each other well.”

Both the girls and boys then traveled to Bigfork for a flight tournament with the hosts, as well as Cut Bank, Troy and Libby and saw fantastic results on Saturday, April 21.

At the tournament, scored in 10-game pro-set format, the Lady Bulldogs took second. Bowers won three of her four matches, including wins over Bigfork and Libby by 10-6 margins, as well as Troy, 10-2. Bowers’ win against Libby was all the more impressive after she dug herself a huge hole early.

“Bowers really impressed me in her last match against Libby,” Ison said. “She was tired, quite honestly just didn’t want to be out there anymore and slipped to 0-5. Instead of giving up, she found her second wind and went on a ninegame streak to come back and win 10-6. That took some serious mental strength and stamina, and I’m very proud of her.”

Makepeace duplicated Bowers’ success, winning two matches 10-3 and one 10-1. Ahlborn also won three of her four matches, while Billette split 2-2 on the day. Koskela and Dougherty built off of their chemistry, winning two of their four matches as well.

“I loved what I saw from the girls at the flight tournament,” Ison said. “They all did really well. I loved that they were able to play so many matches; it was really good for them.”

For the Bulldogs, No. 1 doubles team Yelsa and Suta earned the tournament win thanks to a 2-1 performance, highlighted by a 10-8 victory over Cut Bank and a 10-6 win against Troy.

“It was a good weekend in putting to use what they have been working on for Katz and Harry,” boys coach Kimimi Ashley said. “Katz and Harry are so calm on the court, yet both competitive and want to get better each time they practice and play.”

Sonntag earned third place thanks to a pair of wins, Daniels also won twice in finishing fourth and Ali, at No. 4 singles, won a match to finish fourth. Daniels’ match against Cut Bank’s Isaac Matt stood out to Ashley, despite Daniels falling just short, 10-8.

“I was pleased with Karl’s play against Isaac in that he won more points at the net than he lost and he had a lot of winners,” Ashley said. “A couple little adjustments in where Karl was placing the ball and he could have kept his lead and came out with the win.”

Ashley also noted that Sonntag has made strides and is coming into his own on the court.

“Felix had a good weekend in coming out with his first wins of the season,” Ashley said. “I’m looking for this to be a stepping stone in turning his game and thinking around. He took what we had worked on in practice the day before to prepare and used it in his playing, so I was very pleased in seeing that.”

This week, the boys face Loyola on Thursday and Troy on Friday in home matches while the girls also host Loyola, but travel to Darby on Friday and Troy on Saturday. The Lady Bulldogs also traveled to Superior to face the Lady Bobcats on Tuesday, but results of that match were unavailable at press time.

Ison is expecting to enjoy some success with a team that seems to be putting it together.

“I’m very excited for these next coming weeks,” Ison said.

Ronan Tennis

TROY — Prior to their meeting with the Lady Bulldogs, the Maidens dominated Troy 5-1 on Tuesday, April 17.

Ronan’s No. 2 doubles team of Smith and Blixt-Leo blanked Callan Peel and Alissa Pepiot 6-0, 6-0 while Barnaby, at No. 3 singles, nearly did the same, winning 6-0, 6-1 against Jasmine Bienek.

“They’re our No. 2 team, but intersquad, they’re only a few games behind and are a very strong team themselves,” Cummings said. “I put them together because they work very well together and that’s an important quality in a doubles team.”

Metzger, Ronan’s top singles player, earned a 6-3, 6-2 win against Holli Higgins and the team of Matkovich and Courville cruised to a 6-4, 6-2 win against Kellie and Katie Lundin. Bird Rattler won her match via forfeit, while Frank played tough, but fell to Emily Anderson 6-1, 6-1.

“Brianna has been hitting the ball better than I’ve seen her hit all year,” Cummings said.

Against Eureka on Saturday, April 21, Ronan’s doubles teams swept, helping the Maidens to a 3-3 tie. Matkovich and Courville continued their stellar play, winning 6-1, 6-1 against Meagan Duram and Tori Gondeiro, as did Smith and Blixt-Leo, downing Autumn Husek and Madison Flaget 6-1, 6-0.

Metzger nabbed a singles victory for Ronan, notching a 6-0, 6-3 win against Angela Bailey while Frank, Barnaby and Bird Rattler all played close matches in defeat for the Maidens.

The Chiefs, in their only match outside of Lake County this week, split with Troy 3-3.

Again, Ronan doubles paved the way, going 2-2. Anderson and Aylesworth escaped the first set before earning a 7-5, 6-3 win against Gunner Gordon and Andrew Haggerty. The No. 2 doubles team of Dresen and Tallon Fortin battled strong for a 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory against Spenser Swimley, while Cullis, at No. 4 singles, worked to defeat Casey Graff 6-1, 6-4.

“It’s his first year and it’s been really nice,” Cummings said of Cullis. “Whatever you ask of him, he tries to do. He’s come a long way and he’s only going to get better and better.”

Sucha played a marathon match against Austin Duve, losing a match that could have gone either way 7-6 (5), 5-7, 10-8. Yankey suffered a similar fate, as Bruce Metz eked out a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win, while Shima couldn’t overcome Creed Garcia, falling 6-4, 6-1.

Despite Shima’s loss, Cummings has liked what he’s seen from his top singles player.

“Hunter has played some good tennis,” Cummings said. “He set some goals and he’s reaching them.”

The Chiefs and Maidens hosted Bigfork on Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. On Thursday, the teams will travel to Valley Christian before a meeting with Superior on Saturday.