Mission Tennis: OFF THEIR LEASH

by Dylan Kitzan & Leader Reporter
| May 10, 2012 5:00 PM

ST. IGNATIUS — The strides taken by the Mission Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs on the tennis court this season haven’t just been felt by the players, coaches and their opponents, but they’re sure to be felt at divisionals this weekend and at state in two weeks.

That was evident when both teams took the court against Bigfork and at tournaments last week. On Tuesday, May 1, the boys earned a convincing 4-1 win, while the girls battled Bigfork to a 3-3 tie.

Felix Sonntag, filling in for Karl Daniels at No. 1, took on the challenge of facing Colter Mahlum and while he lost 6-0, 6-0, drew praise from his coach, Kimimi Ashley.

“He handled his emotions very well and has since then, so I am very pleased with that because that was one of his bigger hurdles more than his opponent at times,” Ashley said.

Chris Camel battled tough to earn a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Logan Lamm, but would suffer a foot injury in a challenge match and could miss out on a chance to make it to state, according to Ashley.

At No. 3, Troy Bontrager handled Gunner Bose 6-2, 6-3.

“Troy has improved immensely and is continually getting better,” Ashley said. “He has been putting in some extra time on his own and learning to not just feed his ball back down the middle to his opponents.”

RJ Blood, usually a doubles player with Zeeshaun Ali, made the most of his singles appearance, downing Dylan Fraley 6-1, 6-0, while both doubles teams won via forfeit.

“RJ has come a long way this year in his doubles play,” Ashley said. “He is thinking more tactically and has improved his communication with his partner immensely. I think that playing singles, when he gets a chance, helps his doubles more because he gets more time on the ball and that helps with his serving and his returns.”

The Lady Bulldogs, meanwhile, got three wins in singles action to split with Bigfork. Top singles player Sarah Bowers gutted out a tough 6-3, 7-6 (11) win against Kianna Wicklund.

“I was very happy about Sarah’s performance against Kianna,” head coach Sara Ison said. “It’s one of those wins that affirms a player that she is a great player. Sarah has beaten her twice in a row now, so that says something about Sarah.”

At No. 3, Kayla Billette continued her solid season by putting a 6-1, 6-1 clinic on Marriah Bradstreet while Briar Ahlborn, who has dominated opponents recently, had to fight hard on a chilly day to gut out a 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1 win.

“That was a great win for her,” Ison said of Ahlborn, “Not only because it was a Bigfork girl, but also because it showed her something about herself - that she can fight back. She was down by a lot in the second set having already lost the first. It was freezing that meet and she could have decided to cut her losses and let it slip away, but instead she changed her tactics and the way she was hitting the ball and saw an immediate change.”

Jane Makepeace, in the No. 2 slot, fell 6-3, 6-4 to McKinzie Shults, while Cecelia Koskela and Cierra Dougherty were defeated at No. 1 doubles by Alanis Stallknecht and Shelby Scoggins 6-4, 6-2. Randi Butterfly and Laura Eggeling, meanwhile, hung with Makenna Gembala and Madison Fraley early before being downed 6-4, 6-0.

At the Best of the West Tournament in Missoula over the weekend, the Lady Bulldogs had a pair of impressive performances. Makepeace took third place, thanks to a tournament-opening 6-4, 6-4 win over Superior’s Kate Bullock and a tournament-closing 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 rally against Townsend’s Kasee Clark.

“She’s starting to come to the net a little more and gaining some confidence in that area,” Ison said. “I don’t feel like she has peaked yet and reached full potential in her playing so I’m really looking forward to seeing that happen during divisionals and state and am very confident that it will happen.”

Briar Ahlborn, at No. 4 singles, fought through a long first match against Townsend’s Sarah Hamburg en route to a first-place finish in her flight. Ahlborn knocked off Hamburg 4-6, 7-6 (3), 13-11 before handling Madison Schumacher of Fort Benton 6-4, 7-6 (6) and Tess Reier of Fairfield 6-2, 6-3.

“I love watching her play because when she is out on the court, it’s all business,” Ison said. “She’s there to win. Period.”

The boys went to Loyola for a flight tournament and got notable performances from their top two singles players and top two doubles teams.

Daniels returned from injury to go 1-3, but the one was a 6-1 blowout against Sentinel, while Blood and Ali reunited for a 1-3 tournament which included a 6-3 win against Valley Christian after being defeated by the school to start the tournament.

“In all their matches they were down and started making their fight back into it,” Ashley said. “I think that if they were playing the best two out of three sets, they would have come back with more wins.”

Sonntag built off of seeing a top player against Bigfork by taking fifth place behind a 2-2 effort. Sonntag knocked off Hellgate 7-5 and Corvallis 6-4. Katz Yelsa and Harry Suta, meanwhile, won three of their four matches, but settled for ninth because their loss came in the tourney’s first match. They rebounded from that to defeat Valley Christian 6-4, Corvallis 6-1 and Conrad 7-5.

“I was pleased with their movement on the court during the tournament,” Ashley said. “They were moving more together on the court with the ball and playing well at the net. If they can focus from the very first day and match of state, they have a good chance of getting far in the tournament and placing.”

Before state, however, both teams will head to divisionals in Troy on May 11-12 and big things are expected from those squads.

“The singles players have been on a roll lately, tying with teams that in that past we were losing to, so I’m hoping to see us continue that momentum into divisionals and state,” Ison said of her team.