Lady Bobcats make noise at state tennis tourney

They were a small contingent intent on making a mark on Montana Girls Class B-C tennis.

And though there were no trophies or medals awarded this year, mission accomplished for the Lady Bobcats from Superior, the only tennis team in Mineral or Sanders Counties.

Sophomore Lanie Crabb, who made it to the state tournament as a freshman last year after winning the Western B-C Divisional title, advanced to the state finals again this year.

She repeated as this year’s Western B-C singles champion, earning her a second consecutive trip to the State finals as Superior’s lone singles entry.

Crabb was joined at State this year by teammates Molia Dao and Brooke Bibler, who finished second at Divisionals in the doubles competition.

Crabb opened the two-day tournament with a rare first round loss, falling to Sawyer of Simms, effectively ending her dreams of a state singles crown. However, there was still lots of tennis to be played.

The Bobcats mainstay rallied for a victory in the second round consolation bracket, when she won over an opponent from Grass Range, then knocked off Nelson from Darby High in the next consolation round match.

However, Crabb’s season came to a halt in Round Seven when she was beaten by Broesder of Conrad and eliminated from the tournament.

Superior’s doubles team opened the tournament with an encouraging win in the first round when they defeated Lorenz and Mollie Harvey from Valley Christian.

No scores for the beginning rounds were available from the girls side of the tournament.

Dao and Bibler then went up against the doubles team from Simms, who won the match and sent the Bobcats duo to the consolation rounds.

The Superior doubles girls won their next two matches, defeating doubles opponents from Broadus and Wolf Point before meeting up with their friendly rivals from Mission, Curries and Umprey who they have played many times before.

The Mission duo, in fact, were the ones who finished first in the Western Divisional tournament by defeating Dao and Bibler in the Western B finals in Bigfork two weekends ago.

The pair from Mission would duplicate that feat again at State, ending the Dao/Bibler appearance in the finals tournament but not before they had advanced to the ninth round of play.

The Lady Bobcats are expected to return a strong group to the courts next year, with this year’s State qualifiers back along with a solid group of underclassmen who showed steady improvement this year under the guidance of coach Angie Hopwood.