Cheney's Calvert finishes 1-2 at state tennis tournament

Bridget Calvert's high school tennis career - and subsequently the Cheney High girls' tennis' team's 2017 campaign - came to an end at the 2A state tournament, May 27.

Calvert went 1-2 in the singles bracket. She opened the tournament with a win against Olympic's Chione Droell (6-0, 6-1). Head coach Courtney Webb said Calvert played a solid game, was aggressive and "did not drop any shots."

Calvert then lost her next two matches, to Sehome's Tessa Tapmongkol (6-2, 6-1) in the quarterfinals and Columbia River's Faith Grisham (6-2, 6-0) in the consolation round.

"She was hustling, ball after ball, and gave it her all," Webb said. "I thought it was a good way to end the season."

The state tournament also wrapped up Webb's first year as girls' tennis head coach. The Blackhawks opened at 3-0 in nonleague action with wins against St. Georges, Mt. Spokane and Davenport, but they struggled when they got to Great Northern League play, winning only one of their matches.

Cheney tied with East Valley to finish fourth in the league standings.

Despite the struggles during league play, Webb said her first year at the helm "was enjoyable."

Cheney loses five seniors to graduation including Caitlyn Zieche, two-time district champion Calvert and Alannah Lewis who won the Post Falls singles tournament in April - both players made up the top two spots in the team's singles lineup - Caitlyn Strong, who spent time in singles and doubles and Taylor Gould, who was one of the stalwarts in the No. 1 doubles spot.

As for next year, the Blackhawks will have a couple of returning varsity players, such as Danica Gary, who mostly played on singles, and doubles player Nika Kawue, who Webb said will step up to the plate in leadership roles.

While the Blackhawks will need to fill the holes in the singles lineup, Webb would also like to work on developing Cheney's doubles teams.

"I want to build a competitive team as a whole," Webb said. "Hopefully we can get some girls who love tennis to come out and fill those spots."

Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].