Pirates tennis aims high headed into 2018 season

The Polson boys tennis team will be filling the void after losing four Class A all-state tennis players, but this year, like every year, Pirates’ coach Bob Hislop anticipates his team will adjust in order to compete.

Tennis, like every single MHSA-sanctioned sport, will change the competitive dynamics and landscape of their sport with teams like Libby and Ronan moving back up from Class B to Class A for the 2018 season.

The Pirates lost senior leaders Colin Kenney, Cadis Chowning, Matt Sitter and Jaron Morgan headed into the start of the season.

Hislop acknowledges his team is losing a lot but also expressed optimism his current Pirates will rise to the challenge.

“The boys lost a ton when we lost Sitter, Chowning, Colin and Jaron because every one of those guys were all-state last year,” Hislop said. “That group is a pretty big bunch to pick up.”

In order to compensate for the losses, some of the veteran Pirate tennis players have put in significant work over the summer, according to Hislop.

“We do have a pretty extensive summer program and we will still have Caden Foreman-Webster and Johnny Moore,who are two players that lived on the court this summer,” Hislop said. “(Johnny and Caden) were able to get a lot of work done and will see the fruits of their labor in some shape or form this season.”

Polson also hopes to see the emergence of Sam Schultz and Carson McDaniel, who both qualified for the MHSA Class A state tournament in Kalispell but didn’t place.

“Carson was a very solid player, even though mobility was one of his issues but he has great hands on the team,” Hislop said of the Pirates’ all-state golfer.

The Pirates will also have a couple of sophomores that could potentially make up for a lot of the senior leadership they lost from last season. Trevor Schultz and Kendal Foreman-Webster are two players Hislop said he would like to “step up.”

“They will take some lumps in the regular season but they are good enough athletes they will catch up during the season,” Hislop said. “They will develop and be competitive right now. That is the nice part.”

Hislop isn’t the type of coach to name a lot of underclassmen that don’t have a lot of documented court experience in order to keep expectations reasonable. However, he knows he has a few players that could be solid anchors headed into the future.

“We have some lesser known seniors and a lot of new kids since we haven’t started yet,” Hislop said. “With the rest of the team, we should have some hopefuls that have potential.”

Also this year, the boys MHSA Class A division will be down.

“I don’t think the division is super strong this season,” Hislop said. “The Whitefish boys will be good. We hope we will reload even though we will take our lumps. We have five quality coaches and kids that are willing to work and want to get better. This season should be a fun process.”