Chinook girls grab first-ever state tennis title

In each of the last few seasons, the Chinook girls tennis team has been knocking on the door at the state tennis tournament.

But this weekend, at the Class B-C state meet on the University of Montana campus in Missoula, the Sugarbeeters had something special.

With 36 points, Chinook captured its first-ever state championship in tennis, beating Hi-Line rival Cut Bank, which finished with 33 points.

Chinook had a six-point lead after Friday's second day of competition, and the Beeters capitalized on it by winning key matches in the consolation bracket.

Senior Alyssa Brown rebounded from an earlier defeat to reach the consolation final in girls singles and finish fourth overall. Brown beat Superior's Cary Chamberlain in the consolation semifinals, before falling to defending state champion Gaelyn Domino in the consolation championship in three grueling sets.

Not to be outdone, Chinook's strong doubles teams also gave the Beeters plenty of points.

Chinook's No. 2 duo of Katie Diemert and Taryn Norby took out teammates Sarah Finley and Emily Harshman 7-6, 6-3 in the consolation semifinals. Last week, Harshman and Finley beat Diemert and Norby in the Northeast B-C Divisional championship. But after beating their teammates in a close match, Diemert and Norby weren't done. They duo helped clinch the state championship by knocking off Fort Benton rivals Megan Lundy and Casey Naeseth 6-4, 6-3 in the consolation final.

Every Beeter who went to state scored. Lareena Baird added points for the Beeters in the singles draw.

Cut Bank was led to a second-place finish when Morgan McDivitt captured the singles title. Big Fork and Baker tied for third with 23 points.

On the boys side, Bigfork, which dropped to Class B just this year, ran away with the team title, scoring 43 points. The Vikings ended a nine-year reign by Cut Bank. The Wolves finished second with 29 points.