Twice would be nice

POLSON – Polson tennis standouts Brady Hislop and Dylan McCrumb were a match away from facing each other for the Class A boys’ state singles title last year.

In 2014, the Pirates’ senior leadership is more concerned with defending their team championship. McCrumb, who placed second in Class A singles last season, will slide into the No. 1 doubles slot with junior Layne Zimmerman, allowing the No. 2 doubles team of Tyler Dupuis and Tommy Mercer to remain intact.

Hislop will be left at No. 1 singles as the Pirates’ de facto challenger to the two-time defending state champion — Dillon Meyer of Billings Central.

“It’s kind of the match that I’ve been looking forward to all year,” Hislop said, noting that he first has to get to Meyer. The Eastern Washington-bound senior — he’ll have a tryout with Eagles coach Darren Haworth after he arrives on campus — fell to Meyer, 6-1, 6-0, in the 2013 semifinals before rebounding to beat Park’s Aidan Goodman in the third-place match.

But Hislop is by all accounts much improved this year.

“I think it’s mostly consistency, staying in points longer and making sure I don’t overhit,” he said. “... I feel like I sort of got off [against Meyer] … I didn’t let myself settle in and play well.”

McCrumb said he made the choice to go the doubles route in pursuit of another team title.

“I was really looking forward to playing Dillon Meyer with a better serve,” the senior said, noting that that facet of his game is most improved over the offseason.

But the spot left open by the graduated Hayden Congdon, Zimmerman’s 2013 partner with whom he took third in doubles, left a vacuum that needed filling. Combine that with the shoulder and elbow problems that have challenged him for nearly a year, and McCrumb’s choice was made.

Polson coach Bob Hislop explained his rationale.

“If you’re going to win, you’ve got to go win it and not hope that everything else falls into place,” he said.

It doesn’t hurt that the pieces to his puzzle are pretty darn talented.

“Layne’s as good a doubles player as there is in Montana, and either one of these two [Brady Hislop and McCrumb] are really good doubles players,” Bob Hislop said.

The Pirates coach noted that McCrumb’s and Zimmerman’s styles complement each other well, though.

“All those [United States Tennis Association] doubles teams are going to be coming to the net and in your face and stuff like that, and we are, but we’ve got a really good baseliner [McCrumb] and a really good net person [Zimmerman]. … There’s a lot for them to contend with.”

The team to beat in doubles is also comes from Billings Central, Bob Hislop said, in state runners-up John Knisely and Harrison Fagg.

“I think the key to us winning state is us being Meyer or us beating that doubles team,” Bob Hislop said. “That’s the only reason I would ever take one of these two [McCrumb or Brady Hislop] out of playing singles.”

It’s his seniors’ offseason preparation that sets the Pirates apart, according to Bob Hislop. The boys put in some solid court time and played a few USTA tournaments.

“The one that Brady and Dylan and Tyler played in this winter in Missoula was tougher than state,” Bob Hislop said.

That extra work and travel makes up for their rivals in Billings having more talent to compete with. The extra competition is something the Pirates are looking forward to after breezing through most of Northwest A Conference play this year.

“I think it’s time for these top five boys to get a chance to play state-level competition,” Bob Hislop said. “I know that sounds pompous, but when you’re good, you have to admit that you are.”

For the boys, it’s not boiled down to a “small-town Polson” versus “big-city Billings” attitude. The Pirates just want to win.

“I don’t think it’s a chip on your shoulder; it’s more like we know what we can do. We want another chance to take out a kid like that,” Brady Hislop said. “It’s just about achieving our goal of winning another state championship. I don’t really care what other people think about it.”