The Southwest A boys tennis tournament vacillated between the courts at Westview School and the Canyons Athletic Club on Thursday. As the weather cleared a bit, the teams headed to the courts on West Main but when the rain came back, the teams went back to the athletic club. With only two courts to play on at the club, the event ran late into the night. The tournament finished up on Friday.
Dillon won the boys team scoring with Hamilton taking second, and Corvallis third by one point. Freshman Alex Raymond won the championship match against Corvallis’ Caleb Powell, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Raymond won his semifinal match against Dillon’s Bradley Rakish, 6-3, 6-2. Powell defeated teammate Josh Smith, 6-4, 6-4 in his semifinal match. Smith lost to Rakich to finish fourth. The top four singles and the top four doubles team will advance to the state tournament this weekend in Bozeman and Livingston.
Raymond’s first match was against Rytger Klein of Corvallis. Raymond won that match, 6-3, 6-2. He then defeated Velenich of Butte Central, 6-2, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals. Powell topped Andy Merkel of Hamilton, 6-3, 6-2, in his first round match. He defeated Jones of Dillon in the second round, 6-2, 6-3. Smith defeated Jake McPherson of Butte Central, 6-2, 6-3, in the first round, and then defeated Jonathan Leonardson of Dillon, 6-4, 5-7, 10-7. Gabe DeLeo of Corvallis won his first match, 6-4, 6-2. That was against Tyler Kump of Butte Central. DeLeo lost to Rakish of Dillon, 6-2, 7-6, (7-2) in the second round.
Emma Pickett of Corvallis took third with her win over teammate Olivia Fehr, 6-3, 6-2. Picket lost to Maggie Magee of Dillon in the semifinals, 7-5, 6-4. Fehr lost to Mariah McClure of Dillon, the eventual divisional champion. Pickett defeated Lauren Kimzey of Hamilton, 6-2, 6-2, in the first round. She topped Hritsco of Dillon in the second round. Fehr defeated Emily St. John of Butte Central, 7-5, 6-2. In the second round, Fehr defeated Sarah Trihn of Hamilton.
Colton Belcourt of Stevensville finished third in the Northwest A Divisional Tournament. Stevensville was moved into that division this year after Libby dropped down to Class B. Belcourt defeated Thomas Carloss of Whitefish, 6-3, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. He lost to Eric Holdhusen of Whitefish, 6-4, 6-1, in the semifinals but came back to top Nathan Fauth of Whitefish, 6-2, 6-2, to take third and advance to state.