Three Forks tennis set to open postseason at this week's Southeast Divisional Tournament

It's postseason time for the Three Forks High School Tennis team.

After a successful regular season, the Wolves will travel this week to Belgrade for the 2024 Southeast Divisional Tournament, which is scheduled for May 16 to 18.

Head Coach Janna Lauver said the Divisional Tournament is looking solid for the team after the strong regular season, adding the top six singles and doubles teams will advance to next week's state tournament in Missoula.

"Three Forks is looking to take as many of those spots as possible," Lauver said.

Coming in as the defending champions, Lauver said at this year's tournament Malia Eriksson is at the top of the division with straight wins over Broadwater, Jefferson, Red Lodge, and Granite this season.

"Sophie Meskimen and Sarah Christman have a strong record this year and are ready to fight through the tournament bracket. Amanda Wilcox is coming in as a sophomore with a strong work ethic and a driven mindset. Our senior doubles team of Maddie Griffiths and Karin Williams have been working towards this week for three years. This will be their third divisional trip, and we are excited to see them get to work. New pair Claire Cutler (Junior) and Mikayla Lear (Sophomore) really proved that they are a solid team this past weekend. Their strategies are amazing, and they are really working on covering the whole court," Lauver said.

BEST OF THE WEST

The Wolves closed the regular season at last week's Best of the West Invite hosted by Missoula Loyola.

According to Lauver, it was the highest temperatures the team has played in this year.

"It was a great warm-up for Divisionals this week in Belgrade," she said.

In Friday's action, Lauver said it was set up as duals, with the Three Forks playing Cut Bank and host Loyola.

In singles play, the Wolves won four matches against Cut Bank. Eriksson (#1 singles) won 8-3 over Kaidence Schmidt, Meskimen (#3) won 8-5 over Kamry Spotted Bear, Christman (#4) won 8-2 over Ava Manecke, and Wilcox (#5) had an 8-4 victory over Gracie Jones.

Griffiths and Williams, the number one doubles team, won 8-5 over Lauren Ytterdahl and Kellyn Dunaway of Cut Bank.

"Loyola came out strong with a young and very skilled team. We were proud to take some games on Loyola's teams and Cut Bank's squad," Lauver said.

In bracketed play on Saturday, Lauver said they faced off against familiar faces, had some upsets, and were proud to have won as many matches as they did. She added that Eriksson and Christman both timed out at 6:30 p.m. as they were both going for their respective third-place slots after one loss each.

Christman had three wins, Wilcox finished with two, and Eriksson and Meskimen each had one.

Cutler and Lear also had a win in doubles play.

"Again, it was excellent preparation for this week's Divisional Tournament, and we are grateful to Loyola Sacred Heart for their invitation," Lauver said.