Pirates tennis remains perfect after four matches

“Obviously, you are successful when both teams finish 4-0 in the duels,” Hislop said. “The older and more experienced players had a really good weekend even though we had a few hiccups here and there.”

Hislop said he is “happy” with the play of some of his younger players on the Pirates and Lady Pirates’ teams.

“The new kids haven’t played a lot of varsity minutes and the new kids, especially on the girls side, from the beginning to end of the first couple of matches improved from Thursday morning to Saturday afternoon,” Hislop said. “It was a good opening weekend.”

One player Hislop said he felt had a “really impressive outing” was No. 1 singles player Cassie Carlyle. Carlyle, the Lady Pirates’ singles player, has really improved in the off season, according to Hislop.

“Carlyle had a really nice weekend and put a lot of time into her game last summer and this winter,” Hislop said. “Because of the time she put in, she is going to be considered one of the top four or five tennis players in the state.”

Hislop also praised the skills of Lady Pirates’ player Kyler Lundeen.

“Lundeen is playing with two different doubles partners, Olivia Hewston and Shea McGuinness,” Hislop said. “Kyler is one of the greatest improvements so far. She has improved on her serve, her overall game is better and athletic, and that works out really nice.”

Pirates start season with four straight victories

The Polson Pirates boys tennis team much, like their girls counterparts, have started the season playing Thursday through Saturday and still have an unblemished team record.

Pirates’ No. 1 player Colin Kenney had some very difficult assignments in his first season taking on the responsibilities as a No. 1 player.

“Colin had a nice weekend and he had to play the kid from Hamilton, which was going to be a tough one,” Hislop said. “Colin is a singles player and sort of learning the ropes of different strategies for playing against different type of players.”

Hislop said his team was hampered by injuries early in the season.

Hislop said Cadis Chowning is “easily one of the best doubles players in Montana.”

Hislop also said Kaiden Forman-Webster is one of the better up-and-coming players.

“Chowning is one of our best tennis players and plays non-stop,” Hislop said. “I have to kick him off the court some nights. Our boys team has solid players all over. They push each other, love to compete and get along well.”

Hislop said the boys side is better at duels.

“We have lots of experience and we will be solid and able to compete with everyone,” Hislop said. “If we do that, we should be pretty successful. The boys side is not the opposite and we have way better duels teams on the boys side.”