The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

It has been a rough start to the spring for nearly all of our local teams but the Chinook Sugarbeeter Tennis team was able to get on the courts this weekend in Great Falls and compete.

Nearly every team in Montana has had to deal with inclement weather and less than ideal conditions to practice in making preparation unique in its own right. Chinook Head Coach Janelle Deanon commented, "Before this meet, we had about an hour of true practice time on the court. So divide that one court by 10 players, and their actual time on the court to work on much of anything is pretty small! We were able to teach our new players how exactly to serve and our returners got a bit of time to build those muscles back up, but we'll be much more ready next week if the weather holds for us."

Match by match results weren't available, but Deanon did provide an overall summary of the kids performance in Great Falls, "Senior Lexi Pitkanen and senior Torin Cecrle played doubles against Chester/J-I, Fairfield, and Great Falls Central Catholic and won all three of those matches."

Cecrle and Pitkanen both also played a singles match against Chester/J-I with each of them earning victories. Senior Mya played a pair of against Chester/J-I opponents and another against a girl from Fairfield winning all three.

Sophomore Rilee Molyneaux also played three singles matches Saturday, two against Chester/J-I and another against Fairfield winning all three as well. In addition sophomore Jeni Mord played Chester/J-I twice and won both and was victorious in her lone match against Great Falls Central Catholic.

Also in Doubles Molyneaux and Mord fell to Great Falls Central Catholic and lost. Freshman Ashlyn Jenson went 2-2 in Great Falls splitting a pair of matches against Chester/J-I, while winning her match with Great Falls Central Catholic and losing to Fairfield.

Sophomore Gracie Skoyen turned in a stellar effort winning all five of her matches on the day.

Deanon was thrilled with her teams start to the season, "Overall, the girls did fantastic. Of the 27 matches our team played there were only 3 losses. It got pretty windy and cold towards the end of the day, but we were just grateful to have clean, dry courts to play on!"

Despite the limited court time and difficult practice conditions Deanon was impressed, "I was so proud of our new players this weekend, and our players who went from doubles to singles for the first time. They went out there, had a great time, and learned 'trial by fire' style. Tennis is such an individual sport with minimal coaching during an actual match that they really had to figure it out on their own, and they did just great with it.

Chinook junior Mya Berreth is off to a great start in 2023 after going 3-0 in Great Falls Saturday. A 4th place finisher at the State B/C a year ago, Berreth has her sights set on the top prize.

As far as her returning veterans Deanon was pleased with where they are, "My returners definitely had some adjusting to do, I know they all felt a little rusty. They may think it wasn't their best performance, but as the day went on they certainly started to get their rhythm back. We saw some wicked serving from Rilee and the fierce net play by Torin and Lexi that they're known for."

In singles, the girls looked good, "Jeni adjusted to singles extremely well and was firing shots back at her opponents. Mya and Ashlyn kept their girls moving and forced them to make difficult returns all day long," said Deanon.

With just one day of competition under their belt Deanon is ready to embrace what is to come, "I'm just so excited for this season. Even with such minimal court time, my girls are playing well. I can't wait to get in there and refine some skills for the rest of the season. I think if we focus on serving, and some game time strategy our post season is going to be impressive."

Chinook is scheduled to be back on the court this Thursday in Wolf Point.