Katie Reed-Smith of Missoula competes during a high school state tennis tournament on Friday, May 23 in Missoula.
Bill Speltz
MISSOULA -- The Valley Christian Eagles moved a big step closer to earning their first State B-C boys team tennis title in 14 years on Friday.
Undefeated singles favorite Olander Bork punched his ticket into the championship match with a comprehensive semifinal win over Kaje Ramey of Cut Bank, 6-0, 6-1. He will play Cut Bank's Dallas Berkram, a player he has already beaten twice this season, in Saturday's final at approximately 11 a.m.
"Olander is a hard, consistent hitter and (Friday) he thought I'm going to come up to net and really work on my net play and he just completely dominated," Eagles coach Jodi Karvandi said. "He has the entire package and as long as he doesn't get into the dink game, and he usually doesn't ... He just needs to play his game and play mentally tough."
Valley Christian also has big-point potential on the consolation side of the bracket. Ross Cruikshank has moved to within one win of a spot in the singles third-fourth match along with the doubles team of Dawson Hoaglin and Fletcher DeGroot.
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"The boys are going to have to come to play -- we can't let up or overlook any match Saturday," Karvandi said. "If they play like I know they can, then I believe it's a very good chance Valley Christian will win the team championship."
Saturday's doubles final will feature Loyola Sacred Heart's undefeated team of Declan Harrington and Zach Munding against Conrad's Linkyn Denzer and Evan Walter. The Conrad team had one of the most exciting matches of the day in the semifinals, emerging with a 6-3, 4-6, 11-9 win.
In girls singles, Macy Zietzke of Simms will battle McKenzie Swenson of Fairfield in the title match. Zietzke won a tough semifinal over the 2024 state singles finalist Rilee Molyneaux of Chinook.
In girls doubles, sisters Kayl and Kyal Hadley of Baker will take on Fairfield's Kamree Pearson and Kiera Bender in the championship. Pearson, a senior, made up half of the state champion doubles team last season.
Fairfield is looking like a good bet to earn a girls team trophy with finalists in singles and doubles.
Link: Class B-C State Tennis Brackets
Contact Bill at [email protected] or on Twitter @billspeltz
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