Wild Cats end season best in the west
<p>Superior senior Cary Chamberlain won the Best of the West Tournament in Missoula over the weekend and finished the regular season. </p>
The Superior-Alberton Wild Cat tennis squad started the week by honoring the teams sole senior Cary Chamberlain.
Coach Rick Berreth began his speech by adding another “C” to Chamberlain’s name – giving her the title of captain, the first time the team has had a captain.
Coach Berreth added that Chamberlain’s record throughout four seasons of tennis play is 70-15 – including two Best of the West Tournament wins, divisional as a sophomore and the Townsend tournament this year.
“Cary doesn’t count though,” Coach Berreth said. “She just shows up and brings her racket.”
Coach Berreth then recalled some memories he had of Chamberlain that showed him she was a legitimate tennis player. The first was in eighth grade, Coach Berreth saw Chamberlain’s mom in her car idling by the tennis court and wondered what she was doing.
“Then I looked over to the tennis court and it’s raining out and Cary’s hitting the ball against the backboard in the rain,” Coach Berreth said. “I would say that’s a pretty devoted tennis player.”
On two separate occasions Chamberlain battled back from being down 5-0 in a deciding set of a match. In the first match, against an undefeated player from Darby, Chamberlain scraped back into the set and made the player work for her win. According to Berreth Chamberlain stretched that third set to a half an hour.
“Then in her sophomore year at state she was down 0-5 in the second set after losing the first set,” Coach Berreth said. “She fought back in and won it and made it to the semi-finals.”
With Chamberlain honored it was time for tennis against Fort Benton and Chamberlain quickly lived up to her new captain title – winning the number one singles match against Kaelee Farris without dropping a single game.
In number one doubles play, the Wild Cat team of Myranda Kuhl and Hillary Stevens beat their opponents in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.
Superior-Alberton hosted the Best of the West Tournament in Missoula over the weekend and undefeated Chamberlain remained unbeaten – cruising to her third tournament title.
In the first round Chamberlain faced off against Jocelyn Caldwell of Loyola, where she needed a tie-breaker in the second set to win the match. In the semifinals the senior needed three sets to win and advance to the finals where she defeated Kristine Warlick in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.
In doubles play, the number one combo of Kuhl and Stevens lost in the semifinals in three sets but then rebounded in the third place match, winning 4-6, 7-6, 10-8.
The Superior-Alberton Wild Cats finished up undefeated in the regular season and Superior will play host to the divisional tournament this weekend.