Polson boys, girls tennis ready to continue tradition

The Polson boys tennis team is looking to improve on its second place finish at Divisionals last season.

According to Pirates’ Coach Bob Hislop, his team will have a “senior-heavy” squad as Polson prepares to enter the 2017 spring season.

“We have some very nice young players and everyone on the boys team except for two kids will be seniors,” Hislop said.

As of press time, Hislop said he still hasn’t solidified his tennis rotation but expressed confidence in his boys’ ability to play.

Hislop mentioned Jaren Morgan, Cadis Chowning, Matt Sitter, Kaiden and Kabe Forman-Webster, Sam Schultz and Johnny Moore that will all be significant contributors to the Pirates.

“The rest of the group is fairly equal in talent, and Cadis and Colin are a little ahead of the rest of them,” Hislop said. “(With this team), I like our chances to advance to Divisionals and state this year. We don’t have much of a drop off in talent from one player to the next and most teams will be good in this department and good there.”

With the talent Hislop discussed, he said he felt his Pirates’ boys tennis team will be in contention to win its third consecutive Divisional tournament in a row.

Lady Pirates go for 11th consecutive Divisional title

The Polson Lady Pirates girls tennis team, like their male counterparts, will be aiming to repeat as Divisional champs for the tenth consecutive season in a row.

“In 2012 our girls (team) won state and in 2013 our boys team won the state championship,” Hislop said. “This year it’s a little bit of a different team and we pride ourselves in our depth. The rest of our team will consist of all new players and it will be a little bit of a different challenge.”

In spite of the Lady Pirates’ success, Hislop has declared this a “rebuilding season” for his team.

“As a team unit, a whole team and a program, we are probably rebuilding,” Hislop said. “We hope to place very high at state. These girls are very high quality and good athletes. That is the interesting part (of this season) is that we have a lot of athletes and we have really good assistant coaches that typically bring these kids along very fast.”

Cassie Caryle will the Lady Pirates No. 1 singles players, according to Hislop.

“She is a very physical player and really hits a big ball,” Hislop said. “She was our No. 1 singles player and also a part of a very high level state doubles team last year. Because of her talent, this should be a fun year.”

Polson will also have converted tennis players that excelled in other sports including Olivia Hewston, who was part of the Lady Pirates’ soccer team that fell just one goal short of qualifying for the Class A state championship.

“She is a soccer player,” Hislop said. “Olivia played doubles the last two years and is very good at whatever she has done. She has the best pair of hands in tennis I’ve ever seen.”

Another athlete that Hislop said will contribute to the success of the tennis team will be junior Kyler Lundeen.

“She played volleyball, is a very, very talented varsity volleyball player, and spent a lot of time on her game,” Hislop said. “Last season, she and Olivia qualified for state doubles.”

Another addition to Polson’s tennis team will be sophomore Shea McGuinness.

“These girls were very good and it is because they’ve been so good, played varsity and they’ve just worked on their game,” Hislop said. “She has fantastic ground strokes and is improving her net game and serve in the off season. I assume we will have her in singles and doubles for a while as we are still trying to get things worked out (with her).”

Hislop said he is “very high” on his team’s abilities headed into the season despite his team’s youth.

“A lot of our kids are inexperienced in tennis but they have sports instincts and we talked to them from day one that they just have to compete,” Hislop said. “Athletes get mad about losing but they love the competition. They get over losing faster and they just have those qualities in their approach to competition.”