Libby, Troy compete at Libby Invite
Despite being called off early due to rain, high school players from six schools, including Libby and Troy, played about 70 matches of tennis at Saturday’s Libby Invitational.
Troy had one singles player and one doubles team reach the consolation finals before the matches were called off due to rain. Molly Walters lost her first match of the day, but battled her way back through the bracket to reach the consolation finals. In doubles action, boys’ team AJ Faur and Noah Caballero also reached the consolation finals, but were also unable to complete the match due to rain.
Troy’s Allie Brown knocked off Loyola’s No. 2 singles player and progressed to the tournament semifinals before falling in a close match to Cutbank’s No. 1 singles player.
“Overall I thought we did well,” said Troy coach Nancy Prieve. “We were competitive in most of our matches and got some good experience. I am always proud of how our players continue to battle in every match. Even when they lose the first set, they don’t give up. We have a match this weekend against Ronan. Next weekend we play Bigfork and then go to Missoula for a huge tournament with 14 teams. That should give us good practice for divisionals and state. Our players have continued to improve throughout the season.”
Libby’s team saw one girls’ singles player and one girls’ doubles team reach the finals, along with one boys’ doubles team and two boys’ singles players.
Jhamaal Sykes and Jason Brant led the way for Libby’s boys, both reaching the singles finals before the rains ended the tourney. The boys team of Ryan Nagle and Gio Cano also reached the finals, along with girls single Kaylene Hudson and girls double Mehki Sykes and Dani Hawthorne.
Libby coach Kyle Hannah said he was very pleased with his team’s performance and where they stand at this point in the season.
“Our boys team is really strong right now,” he said. “Our four top singles players are in the top seven or eight players in the conference right now. Our two doubles teams are both in the top four. Nagle and Cano are putting on a great show for us. On the girls’ side, Hudson is among the top three players out there and both of the doubles teams are the conference’s top tier.”