QUEENS OF THE COURT

Like any state championship team, the 2012 Polson girls tennis team has plenty of backstory. The Lady Pirates used a complete team effort to earn the school’s second state title and finish a season that was, by all accounts, dominant.

Like any state championship team, the 2012 Polson girls tennis team has plenty of backstory. The Lady Pirates used a complete team effort to earn the school’s second state title and finish a season that was, by all accounts, dominant.

To trace back to how Polson got to the top of the mountain, you’ve got to go back to 2008 when the Lady Pirates won the Class A title after sending all three doubles teams to the state tournament. However, heading into the 2009 season, head coach Bob Hislop had to find some new faces and retool his squad after achieving greatness.

“We had some kids move away and my daughter (Cali Hislop) was hurt badly,” Hislop said. “So we filled things in with a lot of sophomores and freshmen. A lot of those kids were on the state championship team this season.”

Some teams can point to a specific game that pushed their season over the top, or perhaps a couple players that put the team on their back and carried them. However, in the game of tennis, this year’s Class A state champion was the product of a carefully steered program and a group of kids that never stopped working out on the court.

“A state championship isn’t something that happens on a day or a weekend, it happens over a long period of time,” Hislop said.

Hislop said the team needed every point, and he wasn’t kidding, as the Lady Pirates edged Hamilton by a single point, 35-34. Like the 2008 team, Polson had a talented group of doubles players. Hislop rotated all three of his varsity teams in dual matchup seeding during the season and they placed 1-2-3 at the divisional tournament.

At the state tournament, they all placed in the top six with the 2012 Northwestern A Divisional champion squad of Mollybeth Hendrix and Kenzie Clay taking second place.

Hendrix and Clay defeated Livingston’s Hollie Seymour and Sallie DeBoer, 6-1, 6-2 to reach the state finals. Karly Rochin and Jordan Quinn won four matches at the state tournament and placed fourth, while Audra Engebretson and Karmen Borchers reached the semifinals and ended up taking sixth at state.

Audra had to battle through sickness during the tournament and was still able to place. In singles play, Polson had three talented singles players that weren’t just happy to be at the state tournament, they wanted to make some noise.

“We felt really good going into the tournament,” singles player and Northwestern A champion Whitney Zimmerman said. “We had nine girls that qualified for state which was more than any other team.”

Zimmerman placed fourth and had a run of four wins in the state tournament, bouncing back from an early first round defeat. Sara Robinson won two singles matches at the tournament and earned valuable points for the Lady Pirates in their one-point state championship victory.

“It was good that we all scored because the margin was so close,” Zimmerman said. “It would have ended differently had everybody not contributed with their points.”

Robinson made the state tournament last season after qualifying for varsity a week before the divisional tournament.

She continued to work on her game and became a legitimate No. 1 and No. 2 singles player in Polson’s dual matchups this season. She also finished second at the divisional tournament. Kylee Wegner placed fourth at the divisional tournament and came in playing tough at the state tournament. She pushed Havre’s Brandy Lambourne to the limit in the final set of their consolation second round matchup and Lambourne had to scratch and claw for a 7-5 final set victory to move on in the bracket.

“She just played fantastic tennis at the end of the tournament there,” Hislop said.

Zimmerman’s victory in the consolation semifinals, combined with Mary Conwell of Hamilton’s loss in the singles state championship match ensured that Polson would wear the crown at the end of the day.

“We knew that Hamilton couldn’t catch us because they were done playing for the day,” Hislop said. “But the coaches wanted to keep it a secret and have them announce it over the PA as kind of a surprise.”

However, curious tennis players Engebretson and Clay were able to see the results and do the math in the tournament scoring.

“The coaches were trying to keep us away from the bracket boards,” Zimmerman said. “But the girls were able to look at them and figure out what was happening.”

The result? Pure Polson Lady Pirate pandemonium.

“Audra and Kenzie looked and told everyone,” Hislop said. “Then all of a sudden we had a whole bunch of girls having a celebration by the bracket boards.”

Not only was it Polson’s second state championship in tennis, but the Lady Pirates continued a tradition of excellence. Polson hasn’t had a losing season in dual play since 1998.

And where did it all start? Not during tennis season. The girls were working hard in the summer and winter preparing and tweaking their game.

“It’s hard to estimate the hours at all the camps and the work during the summer,” Hislop said. “Just innumerable hours.”

Zimmerman was a good example of what some of these tennis players dedicated to the sport. The singles player expressed the utmost appreciation toward her coaches for all the work they did. She drove to Kalispell during the summer and Missoula during the winter several times a week to work on her game.

“I was just to thank all the coaches,” she said. “Coach Hislop and Donna (Hislop) and coach (Matthew) Sitter. Also Jimmy Cripe from Kalispell at the Summit. They just all made a big difference and helped me a lot.”

She wasn’t the only player, though, as the whole team showed a level of commitment to the game, that was state championship caliber.