Superior Tennis head to divisional tournament

SUPERIOR – The Superior-Alberton Tennis team finished out the regular season much like they started – with a victory. 

The girls played three straight, winning one, losing one and tying the other.

Superior-Alberton started the week out on May 7, with a tie against visiting Phillipsburg. 

Hailie Bahm from Superior-Alberton defeated Tara Dunkerson, 6-0, 6-1 in singles; Brittney White defeated Phillipsburg’s Josie Ray, 7-5, 6-1; Nicole Byrne from Phillipsburg defeated Mackenzie Spence, 3-6, 6-3, 10-2; Phillipsburg won by default on the No. 4 set because Superior-Alberton was missing that player. 

In doubles, the team of Anna Pence/Kyra Brabender from Phillipsburg defeated Geneva Plakke/Alise Ruthford, 6-1, 6-2; Heather Kelly/Sammi Francis from Superior-Alberton defeated Annie Pawlak/Genelle Peterson, 6-1, 6-0.

“Loyola of course was the conference favorite, but they were missing three and we were missing one this week,” said Rick Berreth, Superior-Alberton tennis coach. “At some respect we avenged the loss we had with them a week or two ago.”

Loyola visited Superior May 8 and Superior-Alberton won by a score of 3-2.

Bahm of Superior-Alberton was defeated by Olivia Round, 6-3, 7-6 in singles. Brittney White from Superior-Alberton won by default; Mackenzie Spence from Superior-Alberton also won by default; the No. 4 singles slot was a double default.

In doubles, Casey Cummins/Kally Hacker, 6-2, 6-2, defeated the Superior-Alberton team of Plakke/Ruthford; Kelly/Francis from Superior-Alberton defeated Tyler Bostwick/Kenzie Wells, 6-0, 6-0.

“It was a little wet playing against Fort Benton, but we squeegee the court and got the match in,” Berreth said. 

On May 9, the team took a loss on their home court to Fort Benton, 5-1. 

In the singles round, Bahm from Superior-Alberton defeated Jacey Giles, 7-5, 6-3; Maison Shumacher, from Fort Benton defeated Heather Kelly, 6-2, 6-3; Fort Benton’s Katie Witt defeated Sophia Williams, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5) and No. 4 singles were unavailable.

The team of Kinsey Claassen and Miranda Woodhouse of Fort Benton defeated Mackenzie Spence/Sammi Francis, 6-1, 6-0 in doubles competition.  

The girls went to compete in the Jules Karlin Classic May 10 in Missoula. 

“We had two girls in the tournament with 2-1 records,” Berreth said. “Most won each match, and the ones who didn’t played really close.” 

Bahm was one of those girls and is also the teams No.1 singles player, according to Berreth. Bahm finished the week with a 4-2 record. 

Geneva Plakke was the other with a 2-1 record. 

Despite the loss to Fort Benton and the tie to Phillipsburg, Superior-Alberton finished the regular season at 6-2-2, which is a winning record. 

“This week we have divisionals in Missoula, and after there is state,” Berreth said.

Each player who qualifies for state does so based on individual stats. Only the top players from each high school get to compete at the state level. 

“We could be a surprise team at state this year because everybody is new and still learning their position,” Berreth said.