One is quick to offer a high-five to her teammate, the other to bemoan her own mistake.
One has secured a spot playing tennis in college, the other is going to walk on next fall, but has yet to inform her future coach of those plans.
Rolston and Crandall, who've been playing No. 1 doubles together for the past three years, including a state championship as sophomores, are one season removed from one of the biggest disappointments of their prep tennis careers. The twosome finished third at the state tournament following a pressure-packed junior campaign. It was a year in which neither Crandall nor Rolston had trouble pin-pointing the source of the pressure.
“It definitely came from ourselves,” Crandall says. “We started out (last) season thinking we'd go undefeated and win state again, and we lost our very first match. I guess that took some of the pressure off, but we kept looking down the road toward state and that just made us tense in the end.”
The pair lost a second-round match on the first day of state, and even though they came back to win four loser-out matches in a row for the consolation title, the lesson was learned. They wouldn't be repeat champions.
“That was a lot of pressure going back to state, I felt really tight,” Rolston says. “This year we're more relaxed. We want to do better at state, but we're going to take it one match at a time. That's our mentality this year.”
The two are favorites to win the Class AA girls' doubles crown again at this week's state tournament, which starts Friday at Bozeman High School, but each insists they won't make the same mistakes this time around.
“We weren't looking toward state at the beginning of this year,” Crandall says. “We're a lot more excited this year than last, we're more mature, and we're a lot lot more relaxed. We're just a lot more ready for it.”
The pair cruised to the doubles title at the Western AA divisional last week at Playfair Park, winning the title match 6-2, 6-0 over Sentinel's Claire Nickless and Lindsay Holmstrom. The win, which earned them a No. 1 doubles seed for state, was typical of Rolston and Crandall in 2008.
“I hate to say this as a coach, but last year they tightened up in close matches. They showed some vulnerabilities,” says Greg Robitaille, the Knights head coach, “and this year they haven't done that.
“They've been great. No one gave them any push.”
Rolston and Crandall went 20-1 in doubles this spring, with their only loss coming at the rackets of a duo from Washington during the Inland Empire Invitational in Spokane last month. They still came back in that one and - you guessed it - took third place.
Rolston and Crandall haven't strayed much from their game, which can be pretty intimidating. Or so they've been told.
Rolston, who stands nearly 5-foot-10, is an imposing figure with her rangy arms and super smashes at game point. Crandall makes up for a lack of height with a tenacity in her serving and a selection of shots that can't be measured.
“I've heard I can be intimidating,” Rolston says, “but I don't feel that way. I don't feel as tall as I am to other people.
“A lot of people say I must like to play at the net - and I do - but I joke with Lauren because she can jump just as high as I can, and she can reach the lobs just as well as I can ... I don't feel that I benefit from (being tall) that much, but I don't know what goes on in the minds of other girls.”
“It doesn't hurt, that's for sure,” says Crandall, who guesstimates she stands between 5-3 and 5-4. “I'm not tall, so it's nice having her be taller.”
Especially when Rolston is playing up at the net.
“The more I volley the more I get into the game,” says Rolston. “If I stay back I'm more passive; I don't get riled up. I play better when I'm at the net.”
While Crandall appreciates Rolston's ability to put the ball away with big smashes when she's inside “no man's land” or long-reaching stabs that fall just over the net into the opponents' court, Rolston can only shake her head at Crandall's quick forehand and sharp backhand.
“I love her groundstrokes,” Rolston says. “I wish I could have her groundstrokes a lot of the time. They're really strong. Mine are more tight a lot of the time. I just love hers.”
Crandall agrees with that assessment.
“I would definitely like to have (Rolston's) volleys,” Crandall says. “That's why we work so well together. I would prefer to just stay on the baseline and hit groundstrokes and she would stay at the net and volley, so it works out well.
Different strokes for different folks, they say.
“They're extremely intelligent and coachable student-athletes,” Robitaille says. “Athletically they have great chemistry.”
But are they intimidating? No way, they say, and here's proof.
Each remembers the loss to Bozeman's Jenni Webster and Elizabeth Davis, the doubles team that dropped them from title contention at state last year, and neither has a bad word to say about the Hawks duo, which returns to state this weekend, too, but on the opposite side of the bracket.
“We've been playing them for awhile,” says Crandall. “We kind of know them. They're good competition.”
“Oh, they're nice,” says Rolston, adding that they beat Webster and Davis 8-0 at the Helena Invitational earlier this spring.
The real intimidator is what lies ahead.
Rolston is going to play tennis for Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash., starting next season.
Rolston heard about the program from an uncle who went to Whitman, her sister who considered going there after last season and former Hellgate teammate Margo Lentz, who plays there currently.
“I have a few connections out there,” she says.
Crandall, on the other hand, intends to stay in Missoula and walk on for the Grizzlies, but she hasn't told women's head coach Jen Anderson. Crandall was encouraged after playing with UM men's coach Kris Nord during a winter clinic.
It'll be the first time since their freshman years that each player won't be paired with the other.
“It makes me a little sad to think about it,” Rolston says. “Next year during tennis season I won't have Lauren with me. Hopefully we'll both be doing well and we'll let each other know how we're doing.”
It's not only their dedication to being No. 1, it's their dedication to one another.
Nick Lockridge may be reached at 523-5298 or at nick.lockridge@lee.net
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