Lady Pirates tennis duo captures Western MT Open title

Inspired by the success of her Polson Lady Pirate teammate Shea McGuinness and driven to capture a second consecutive Lady Pirates’ team title, Polson High School tennis player Berkeley Ellis has devoted her summer to becoming a better tennis player.

Ellis, who teamed up with Polson teammate Qia Harlan, combined to capture the Western Montana Open this summer.

Ellis, who is currently practicing five days a week and two hours a day, said the individual and team accolades are both motivating factors to her dedication to improvement.

McGuinness, who became the first-ever Montana High School Activities Association state singles champion from Polson, stated she and the team’s success motivated her.

“I would say after winning a team championship and watching Shea win the state championship made me work even harder,” Ellis said. “It’s awesome to be able to practice really hard and it all pays off when you go to those tournaments.”

Ellis said she felt she has improved significantly since the start of the summer.

“I’ve improved a lot on my backhand but I would like to be more consistent and try to practice two hours every day I practice,” Ellis said. “The competition at state is much higher than anywhere else. Playing various players in the off season really gets you prepared for the competition you’ll face during the season. There are a lot of really talented girl players in Class A.”

Ellis, who plans on playing both singles and doubles, said she hopes she gets a chance to team up with Harlan as a doubles team as they both prepare for the start of the 2019 spring season.

“Hopefully, I get to play in the singles and doubles and place in the top ten at state,” Ellis said. “We want to win another team championship again. Our coaches just do an amazing job preparing us state and they put in the time. I hope Harlan and I get to play together, but I am not sure if we will get to as a doubles team. She is such a talented player.”

Ellis gave full credit to the Lady Pirates’ coaching staff for making the team and players successful.

“I just really want to thank my amazing coaches,” Ellis said. “They put in a tremendous amount of effort and time. During the tennis season, they put in three different sessions of practice and practice from 2:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. They also put in three different sessions practicing with us for four or five hours. They put in a lot of time.”

Hislop said he felt playing in the summer tournaments was “good experience,” for his players.

“Qia is experienced in doing sporting events and tournaments and winning the tournament was huge for her,” Hislop said. “Berkely is a three-sport athlete and has gotten valuable tennis time this year and it is rewarding for me to see this and take on (tournaments) like this in the summer.”

Coach Bob Hislop said he felt the success of his Lady Pirates’ team in 2018 has motivated his team to succeed.

“I think a lot of the older kids obviously saw Shea doing what she did as a girl from Polson winning the state singles and doubles title and that helps,” Hislop said. “Once you get a taste, it’s like ‘Oh My God! Let’s go do this again.’ They know they have a lot of young talent on their team and they want to be part of the continued success of the program.

Hislop credited several of his senior players from the 2018 team for building the foundation of continued success of the program.

“Kyler Lundeen and Josie Peterson were great examples,” Hislop said. “They were able to make it to state and they really set an example (for this year’s team). These players we have right now want a piece of that success and their name on a trophy that will be in the high school for 30-plus years. We won this year and want to win next year. This year, we have very hard working kids.”