Pirates' boys, girls tennis finding its rhythm

Polson High School girls and boys tennis coach Bob Hislop said he felt his girl’s team has more than made up for the lack of progress his team lost because of inclement weather.

The Lady Pirates have more than made up what they lost in repetitions at practice, according to Hislop.

“I think we are getting a lot closer to reaching our potential and it helped a lot in the last couple of weeks that we’ve gotten a lot of tennis in and have been able to play outside,” Hislop said. “We are still mixing and matching some positions. I am not sure yet where all of our kids are going to be, but they keep improving and the younger players are getting more and more confident considering where they were two weeks ago. I am really pleased.”

Hislop said one player in particular on the Lady Pirates team that has really progressed is Shea McGuinness.

“Shae is undefeated and the nice thing about her is that she is never satisfied,” Hislop said. “I think sometimes that characteristic can be a double-edged sword where some kids that are never satisfied can be harping on themselves, but Shea is a really good student and she just wants more and to give me more. She always asks me ‘what she can do better?’ and it helps her to have a focal point other than just winning. It gets her better in tennis and figuring out more ways to win in tennis.”

Hislop knows there are a lot of ways to win in tennis, and he feels like he and his coaching staff is just starting to scratch the surface of McGuinness’s potential.

“(Her potential) is a nice thing and she has a great variety of shots but I still don’t think we have scratched the surface with her growth as a tennis player in the last 12 months,” Hislop said.

Ara Mercer and Megan Ross are two Lady Pirates that have also made the progression from the start of the season, according to Hislop.

Mercer and Ross have both showed a ton of improvement,” Hislop said. “We also have other freshmen and sophomores on the JV that are coming on too and that is really nice. That gives our team a lot of options when we have music festivals and other things going on when we aren’t going to have all of our kids.”

Hislop is still mixing and matching combinations and one combination that he has modified since the start of the season is the doubles combination of Kyler Lundeen and Qia Harlan. He has focused Harlan more on singles matches and paired Lundeen with Berkely Ellis.

“We switched Berkely in doubles with Kyler and that has nothing to do with how Qia played,” Hislop said. “We made the decision to change some things around. Qia is playing quite a bit of double and just growing like crazy and Berkely is fantastic in doubles.”

Pirates’ tennis looks to improve

Though Hislop is ever aware of his team’s athletic prowess and unlimited potential, he still feels like there is room for improvement.

“Last Thursday and Friday, we had some boys players that just didn’t play well,” Hislop said. “I think I figure that is alright now and better than to play (like that) in Divisionals. We are just fighting more depth against teams like Whitefish. Our depth of kids (on our boy’s side) just isn’t playing that well.”

Hislop said he felt his athletic and talented team is working hard to reach their goals but they just have to continue to work on the technical nuances of tennis.

“It is not for lack of work because our boys are working hard,” Hislop said. “It’s just a tough Divisional. You have five teams and everyone has full rosters. Ronan is back from B, Libby is back from A and Columbia Falls is the best I’ve seen them be in years. It is a bit of a combination of factors. Is our competition tougher or are we not as good? I think we will be fine and both our players and coaches are striving for more. We have to compete and step it up the next couple of weeks, and knowing them and how athletic they are, they will step it up.”