Troy boys finish third at state tennis
<p>Team photo with 3rd place placque Left to right, back row: Dominic Kensler-Chiaverini, Brennan Olds, Alex Day, A.J. Faur, C.J. Beard Front: Ben Haggerty not pictured : Brylee Freund, Craig Helmrick, Allie Brown, Taylor Brown, Azure Stever</p>
The boys tennis team from Troy High School finished third overall at the state tournament held May 14 – 16 in Great Falls. Dominic Chiaverini was the team’s top individual player, placing fourth overall in singles competition.
“He played an amazing tournament,” said head coach Milo Rogers of Chiaverini. “His serves were the best I’ve seen all year.”
Troy was able to bring a full contingent of boys players to the state meet. Divisional qualifying is not necessary on the boys’ side, Rogers said, because there are only nine schools with boys teams in Class B. In addition to Chiaverini, Ben Haggerty, Craig Helmrick and C.J. Beard competed in singles. A.J. Faur, Brylee Freund, Alex Day and Brennan Olds competed in doubles action.
Rogers praised the success of the team, especially noting that each of the boys managed to win team points for Troy.
“It was great because they all contributed,” he said. “They each managed at least one win and that got us the points to place third.”
Troy’s third-place finish was the best they’ve had since 1998, Rogers said. Troy had 26 total points, just three behind Bigfork. Loyola ran away with the victory, scoring 71 team points.
The girls faced a different challenge. With 23 schools competing in Class B, the girls needed to qualify through a divisional tournament in order to compete at the state level.
Three Troy girls, one singles player and one doubles team, performed well enough at divisionals to qualify for state. Azure Stever and Taylor Brown took the courts in doubles competition, but were eliminated before scoring any points.
“It was their first time at state and they were pumped up,” Rogers said. “That was a huge accomplishment.”
Sophomore Allie Brown made the trip for singles competition. Even though she lost her first match of the day, she came back to win her first match in the consolation bracket before being eliminated.
Many of Troy’s netters are graduating this year, Rogers said, leaving the team in a bit of a rebuilding period.
“With all the seniors leaving, it will be a rebuilding year,” he said. “But we’ll hold our own. We have some good young players and we’ve played a lot with the eighth graders, things are looking good.”