Shorthanded Sandpoint tennis rallies to beat Lakeland

RATHDRUM — Head coach Kent Anderson got quite the peek into the future for his tennis team on Friday.

The Bulldogs were without five of their varsity players at rival Lakeland. Josh Embree, Charlie Johnson, Brahma Heitz, Olivia Petruso and Kailee McNamee were all unable to take the court for Sandpoint.

"We completely changed how we do our lineup," Anderson said.

That meant Anderson had to test the depth of his squad and call up a few players from the junior varsity team. Caleb Bradshaw, Sydney Webb and Elly Tutin made their varsity debuts and they all emerged victorious in their matches to help a shorthanded Sandpoint team take down the Hawks 8-4.

Prior to the start of the match, Anderson wasn't sure his team would be able to pull out a win, but they rose to the occasion.

"I'm so happy for these guys," he said. "I kind of wrote it off. I figured, 'OK we're going to lose this one, but what a great experience for the JV players to play varsity,' and then they come out and they are just solid. It was amazing ... It was really neat and almost emotional watching it all take place."

The match between the two 4A rivals was originally scheduled to be played on Thursday, but just before the event was set to begin some rain came through Rathdrum and forced the schools to reschedule to Friday. Anderson said the short notice prevented some of his varsity players from making the trip down.

The Bulldogs lost their first three matches, but rallied to win eight of the next nine.

"There's so many good matches that we pulled out," Anderson said.

The match of the day in Anderson's eyes happened at No. 2 girls doubles. Adrian Doty and Tutin teamed up for the first time ever and grabbed a thrilling 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win.

"Adrian used her usual consistency to keep the ball in play and Elly roamed the net keeping their opponents off balance," Anderson said about the match. "They both played exceptionally well. This is a glimpse of our future."

With her doubles partner out (Petruso), Denali Terry moved to No. 2 girls singles and cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 victory. Maise Brazill also won with the same score at No. 3 singles.

In boys singles, Tyler McNamee secured a 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 2 and Owen Larson claimed a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 3. It was the second varsity match of Larson's career.

"He just played really strong tennis," Anderson said.

Tyler Korn and Carter Johnson moved up to the No. 1 doubles spot for the boys and kept their undefeated record alive, winning 6-0, 7-5.

Sandpoint swept mixed doubles. Aden Heitz and Patch Howard won at No. 1, and Bradshaw and Webb stole the final two sets at No. 2 to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

Anderson was really impressed with Bradshaw and Webb.

"They were really discipline after they lost the first set," he said, "and started not overhitting, keeping the ball away from the net person and hitting consistent cross-courts, and they pulled it out."

The Bulldogs are now 6-1-3 in matches this season.

SHS travels to Moscow at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

Sandpoint 8. Lakeland 4.

Sandpoint athletes in bold

GIRLS SINGLES: No. 1 Malika Warnick d. Neva Reseska, 6-1, 6-3. No. 2 Denali Terry d. Elle Brown, 6-1, 6-0. No. 3 Maise Brazill d. Malila Batman, 6-1, 6-0.

GIRLS DOUBLES: No. 1 Ellie Carlson/Addie Raebel d. Maile Evans/Berkeley Cox, 6-1, 6-4. No. 2 Adrian Doty/Elly Tutin d. Madison Hersh/Allison Rader, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4.

BOYS SINGLES: No. 1 Marwan Warnick d. Christian Story, 6-1, 6-3. No. 2 Tyler McNamee d. Bo Wilding, 6-4, 6-3. No. 3 Owen Larson d. Ricky Yaple, 6-1, 6-2.

BOYS DOUBLES: No. 1 Tyler Korn/Carter Johnson d. Brady Manko/Brady Hanna, 6-0, 7-5. No. 2 Cole Andres/Ben Ryan d. Evan Wiley/Josh Jessen, 7-5, 6-3.

MIXED DOUBLES: No. 1 Aden Heitz/Patch Howard d. Quinn McGovern/Rachel Moen, 6-4, 6-3. No. 2 Caleb Bradshaw/Sydney Webb d. Cameron Paquette/Faith Brodwater, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.