BOZEMAN – One storm led to another Thursday on the first day of the Class AA state tennis championships. Buckets of snow/slush fell on Bozeman starting in the wee hours, sending the event inside to the Bobcat-Anderson Tennis Center at Montana State for a necessarily l-o-n-g day at an event already squeezed into two days. Play started at 8 a.

m. and was to continue until anywhere from after midnight until 3 or 4 a.m.

, depending on whose math projections were spot on. And that was with every match starting 2-2 to ensure a brisk pace. For the singles favorites, notably defending champions Mason McCarty of Bozeman Gallatin and Elliotte Banziger of Missoula Hellgate, the shortened matches proved little more than a speed bump.

Both cruised into Friday morning’s semifinals, set for the outdoor courts at Gallatin High. Doubles were a different story. “The thing with 2-all is it really favors the underdog, it puts a lot of pressure on the favorites,” said veteran Hellgate coach Brian Hanford, whose girls snapped Bozeman’s 10-year title streak last spring.

“So it’s kind of a perfect storm for the underdogs to come through and get some upsets.” Hanford saw it first-hand with his top two boys doubles squads, both losing three-set tie-breakers, giving defending champ Gallatin some breathing room entering the final day. McCarty, seeking a second straight perfect season, took care of Billings Senior’s Caleb Binkley 6-2, 6-2, and Hellgate’s Jack Currie-Welch, also 6-2, 6-2.