We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Chinook's Brooke Nicholson returns a ball this weekend in the championship match against teammate Nichole McCraken at the Northeast B/C Divisional Tennis Tournament.
Chinook doubles team Lauren Harshman and Coutney Gunderson meet teammates Hattie Niederegger and Sierra Swank at the net after their championship match at divisionals on Saturday.
Jamie Roth serves to teammate Megan Pruttis in the singles consolation game this past Saturday.
The Chinook tennis team competed in Havre this past weekend at the Northeast B/C Divisional tennis tournament. The Sugarbeeters finished the weekend at the top of the leader board in both Singles and Doubles competition.
Brooke Nicholson kept up her winning ways as she took the singles championship.
"Brook is a coach's dream player. I don't have to worry about her at meets. If she makes a mistake, she has recognized it and corrected it before I can form the words to tell her. She always has great attitude and eagerly steps up to any challenge that presents itself," said Chinook Head Tennis Coach Thom MacLean.
The team of Lauren Harshman and Cortney Gunderson took the doubles championship.
In singles Nicholson beat teammate Nichole McCracken in the final 6-1, 6-0. McCracken made it to the championship match after defeating teammate Megan Pruttis in a tough three sets.
"Megan is the type of player who can get to anything and send it back you, so it was great to see Nicole respond to that challenge and persist until she got the job done. Both players have the ability to score us a lot of points at State," said Maclean.
Pruttis then came off the loss to McCracken and faced 'Beeter Jamie Roth in the consolation match. Pruttis ended up winning against Roth 6-1, 6-0.
With that Chinook took all four top spots in the singles competition, with all four members of the Chinook team moving on to the state tournament this weekend.
On the doubles side Harshman and Gunderson where again up against fellow Sugarbeeters Hattie Niederegger and Sierra Swank, winning 6-1, 6-3. Niederegger and Swank made it to the finals after beating the CJI team of Haley Erickson and Madeline Woods. It took them three sets to beat the experienced team of Hawks.
"Those two, Erickson/Woods, are seniors who've played together and qualified for State all four years, so I was happy Hattie and Sierra could pull out that win," said MacLean.
Chinook also took the team title with a score of 65, while CJI finished second with 19 and Harlem was third with 6 points.
The top four singles players and the top three doubles teams will advance to this weekends state tournament in Missoula. This marks the third straight year that the Chinook tennis team will be sending their entire varsity roster to the state tournament. However, MacLean knows the route to another state title won't be an easy go for the 'Beeters.
"They don't give out team points for just showing up, so hopefully we can continue to play well and get some wins and string enough points together to bring home a trophy," MacLean said.
Chinook will start the defense of their state title this Thursday as they travel to Missoula. Play will be Thursday morning through Saturday at Playfair Park and The Peak Tennis Club in Missoula.
