A pair of road victories, plus one at home last week sealed a 2015 Northeast A League boy’s tennis championship for Medical Lake. The Cardinals raced past Chewelah 4-1 on May 5 and Riverside, 5-0 last Thursday and 4-1 Friday versus Deer Park.
Getting that first victory to start the week was crucial. “This was a big win for the boys as Chewelah posed the biggest threat to us after Lakeside,” co-head coach Dawn Eliassen said.
But the title was not much of a surprise to the veteran coach.
“I think there was an inkling in the very back of my mind after about the third week of the season,” she said. “It’s almost the exact same crew as last year – just Noah (Ray) and Kason (Bailey) are new – but they made so much improvement last year that they picked up this year where they left off .”
Medical Lake swept the singles side with Noah Ray winning at No. 1, 6-1, 6-2 while Tyler Krivolavy squeaked by his No. 2 opponent 7-5, 6-4.
“This was one of Tyler’s better mental matches,” Eliassen said. “He had a significant lead in the first set, but then they were tied at 5-5. He managed to stay focused and pull out the win.”
Austin Brown and Isiah Farmen topped No. 1 doubles 6-3, 6-1 with Trevor Nilles and Nikolaj Beuchert victorious in No. 3, doubles 6-2, 6-2 to wrap up the victory.
Thursday’s sweep of Riverside was hardly in doubt as in all but one match Cardinal players swept their opponents. Ray won a pair of 6-0 victories at No. 1 singles while Krivolavy picked up the win at No. 2, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
“Tyler played a tough competitor this match,” Eliassen said of the No. 2 singles win. “He went out swinging in the first set and got a solid win, but the second set, he struggled to find his groove.”
Brown and Farmen won 6-1, 6-3 in No. 1 doubles, Bailey and Alex Neder topped their opponents 6-1, 6-1 while Nilles, this time teamed with Nikolaj Beuchert, scored an easy 6-1, 6-0 sweep at No. 3 doubles.
“This was a good win for our No. 1 doubles team,” co head coach Jake Wesselman said.
Eliassen added, “This was a very solid showing from Kason and Alex; they just over-powered and out played the Riverside team.”
It was doubles play versus Deer Park that swung the match as Brown and Farmen won at No. 1, 6-2, 7-5, Bailey and Neder cruised to a pair of 6-0 wins with Nilles and Beuchert earning a default win at No. 3 doubles. Krivolavy also won 6-0, 6-0 at No. 2 singles.
“The boys have reached one of their goals for this season by winning the league title,” Wesselman said. “They know that this isn’t where they want to stop, but this is a huge accomplishment.”
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
Next up for the boys are the district championships May 15-16 at Mead High School. Competition begins Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 9 a.m.
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