Wolfpack tennis in good position at Northern AA divisional

Glacier and Flathead rode home-court advantage to a combined eight spots in the semifinals during Thursday’s opening day of the Northern AA tennis divisional at FVCC.

The Wolfpack led the way with seven athletes earning spots in Friday’s semis. 

Flathead’s lone semifinalist is Rowan Alexander, who scored two straight sets wins over CMR’s Blake Katz and Glacier’s Cole Pelucca. 

Alexander faces the Rustlers’ Wiwo Batungbacal with the winner guaranteeing a spot at the State tournament in Kalispell beginning May 28. 

Glacier had one boys singles semifinalist in Colton Mantovani. He did not drop a game en route to two victories Thursday and faces CMR’s Fleming Daniel in the semifinals. 

The Wolfpack added two in girls singles play as well with Autumn Bashara and Leilani Lennarz working through the first two rounds. CMR’s Carys Habel and Georgia Pike round out the final four. 

In girls doubles Glacier is assured of a finalist as Cadence Daniels and Cassidy Daniels earned a spot against Miley Fritz and Reid Sanders. The other semifinal features two Rustlers duos in Kenzie Engel and Chloe Wasilewski, and Quincy Weymouth and Lola Habel. 

Finally in boys doubles, Glacier’s Ethan Ronngren and Karson Stafford took two straight-sets victories. Josh Klippenstein and Axel Rauscher also worked their way into the semifinals with a comeback three-set win over Great Falls’ Braedon Sturges and Max Hale. 

Four Flathead athletes — one doubles pair and two singles — remain in the hunt for a top four finish on the consolation side of the bracket. 

Glacier has 11 athletes — four doubles teams and three singles — still alive. 

The top four in each bracket advance to the State tournament.