Sugarbeeters reign supreme in tennis

The Chinook Sugarbeeters have ruled the Northern B-C Division of girls tennis for a long time now. And nothing is changing anytime soon.

This past weekend, the Beeters dominated the 2014 Northern B-C Divisional tennis tournament, qualifying eight players for this coming weekend’s Class B-C state tournament. Chester/J-I, Big Sandy and the new Harlem tennis team also competed with Fort Benton in the two-day tournament held at the Bill Vaughey Memorial Tennis Courts in Havre.

“I was really pleased with how we did,” said Chinook head coach Thom MacLean. “We played really well. I knew we had a chance to win the tournament, but I guess I was a little surprised we qualified as many girls as we did. We just played really well.”

Chinook, which breezed to the team title over rivals Fort Benton and Chester/J-I, scored big points in singles. The Beeters took five of the six available spots at the state tournament, including an all-Chinook championship match.

On Saturday afternoon, Mariah Swank topped teammate Brooke Nicholson in the championship match, 6-2, 6-2. But Chinook wasn’t done in singles. The Beeters also got a fourth-place finish from Madison McCann and a sixth-place finish by Laura Nussbaum. McCann lost in the consolation match, as she was defeated by Chester/J-I’s Susanne Stewart. Nussbaum was beaten by Fort Benton’s Jacey Giles in the Fifth-Sixth match.

The Beeters was nearly as good in doubles as well.

The duo of Lauren Harshman and Cortney Gunderson won a tight championship match over Fort Benton’s Kinsey Classen and Mirnada Woodhouse, 7-5, 6-4 Saturday afternoon. And to add to Chinook’s huge team point total, Hattie Niederegger and Stella Rigg came back from an early loss to reach the consolation final, where they were beaten by C/J-I’s top duo.

The Hawks will be sending three players to the state tourney. The duo of Madeline Woods and Haley Erickson placed third Saturday, while Stewart finished in third place in singles.

So now it’s on to the state meet, where Chinook has had plenty of success.

Three years ago, the Beeters won the Class B-C state championship, and took second by one point the following season. Chinook will be one of the top teams in the meet this weekend, but the Beeters will have to contend with powerhouse programs from Cut Bank, Missoula Loyola, Baker, Darby Townsend and others.

“I think we have a good chance at a trophy,” MacLean said. “We’ve got some girls that can definitely place if they play well and the brackets go our way. There are definitely some good teams out there. Cut Bank, Fairfield, Townsend, Baker, those are all solid teams. But there isn’t one really dominant, outstanding team in the tournament. So I think we have a really good chance this weekend.

The 2014 Class B-C state tennis tournament starts Thursday and runs through Saturday at Playfair Park and the Peak Racket Club.

Northern B-C

At Havre

Saturday

Girls

Singles (six advance to state)

Mariah Swank, CHN, d. Brooke Nicholson, CHN, 6-2, 6-2, championship

Semifinals

Swank d. Laura Nussbaum, CHN, 6-0, 6-0; Nicholson d. Susanne Stewart, CJI, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

3rd place: Stewart d. Madison McCann, CHN, 6-0, 6-0

5th place: Jacey Giles, FTB, d Nussbaum, 0-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Doubles (four teams advance to state)

Championship: Lauren Harsham/Cortney Gunderson, CHN, d. Kinsey Claassen/Miranda Woodhouse, FTB, 7-5, 6-4.

Semifinals: Claassen/Woodhouse d. Haley Erickson/Madeline Woods, CJI, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5; Harshman/Gunderson d. Jeraca Tempel/Brooke Woods, CJI, 6-0, 6-1.