Pirates bring home hardware at state tennis
BILLINGS — It wasn’t the fairy tale ending that the Polson boys’ tennis team envisioned, but with No. 1 singles player Brady Hislop and No. 1 doubles duo Dylan McCrumb and Layne Zimmerman each taking third in the state, the Pirates couldn’t be too disappointed.
“It was a pretty good weekend, overall for the boys,” coach Bob Hislop said, whose boys’ team placed tied for fifth in the tournament they won a year ago.
Brady Hislop, an Eastern Washington-bound senior, lost his first match of the season in the semifinals to Havre’s Jeff Miller, 0-6, 6-2, 6-2, but recovered to beat Alma Powell, of Corvallis, in straight sets for the second time in two days.
“I think Brady was very disappointed,” Bob Hislop said. “He was playing so well early.”
The coach and father was happy to see his son recover to take third for the second straight season.
“It was his only loss of the year, so I knew it was going to chew him up pretty bad,” said the older Hislop.
The bigger disappointment for Brady, Bob Hislop said, was not getting a shot at two-time defending champion Dillon Meyer, of Billings Central. Meyer lost the other semifinal match to Corvallis’ D.J. Pekoc and failed to show up for any of his consolation matches.
In boys’ doubles, Polson’s pair of McCrumb and Zimmerman made a second-round exit from championship realities, but the duo won five matches in consolation to take third as well.
“It was pretty disappointing, but it was good for them to come back and win another match,” Bob Hislop said.
In the loss to the Billings Central pair of Tommy Pankratz and Jake Newberry, McCrumb and Zimmerman just didn’t seem to have it.
“They didn’t serve great and they didn’t return great,” Hislop said. “In doubles that’s 90 percent of the game.”
The pair of Pirates did recover to beat Pankratz and Newberry in straight sets in the third place match.
Despite not repeating their team title or taking any individually, Hislop looks on the season as a success.
“Anytime you get multiple kids to all-state, that’s a pretty big deal,” he said.
Quaid Harlan rounded out Polson’s representation in the boys’ field, dropping both of his matches in straight sets. Hislop said it was good for the younger player to see state level competition, though.
Polson’s girls, fresh off yet another Northwest A team championship, didn’t fare so well at state.
The doubles teams of Mollybeth Hendrix-Taylor Rost and Karly Rochin-Marlee Congdon both lost their first matches and won their second before being ousted from the consolation bracket.
Neither singles player, Shawna and Shannon Oakley, made it to the second day of competition either.
“For the program to be where we want it to be, we need to play on the second day of state, and this is the second year in a row that we haven’t,” Hislop said.
This class of seniors, Hislop reiterated, won seven of the eight possible team Northwest A championships.
“They’re probably the most decorated class of seniors [in Polson history],” Hislop said. “They’re sort of in another league compared to a lot of kids.”
The coach said he expects that winning tradition to continue through the leadership of his battle-tested returners: Rost and Congdon on the girls’ side and Zimmerman and Harlan for the boys.
State A Tennis
at Billings
BOYS
Team scores -- Billings Central 28, Corvallis 23, Havre 21, Glendive 20, Polson 20, Livingston 4, Libby 4, Stevensville 3, Whitefish 3, Columbia Falls 3, Anaconda 2, Butte Central 1.
Singles
Fifth place -- Opp, Gle, def. Meyer, BiC, forfeit.
Third place -- Hislop, Pol, def. Powell, Cor, 6-2, 6-4.
Championship -- Miller, Hav, def. Pekoc, Cor, 3-6, 7-5, 2-3 (default).
Doubles
Fifth place -- Malone/Smith, Hav, def. Schnackenberg/Wood, Lib, 6-3, 1-6, 6-2.
Third place -- McCrumb/Zimmerman, Pol, def. Pankratz/Newbury, BiC, 6-3, 6-1.
Championship -- Knisely/Fagg, BiC, def. Berg/McPherson, Gle, 6-3, 7-5.
GIRLS
Team scores -- Corvallis 33, Hardin 23, Livingston 23, Billings Central 20, Havre 10, Columbia Falls 8, Whitefish 7, Anaconda 3, Polson 3, Glendive 2.