Playing what his coach called “lights out at the tournament,” Medical Lake senior Noah Ray finished second in last weekend’s district tournament at Mead High School and is the only Cardinal who advances to regional play May 18-19 at Hart Field in Spokane.
“As he progressed through, he got better and better,” co-head coach Jake Wesselman wrote in an email.
Ray earned a first-round bye and then won both quarterfinal and semifinal matches. Ray, the Cardinals’ lone All-Northeast A League selection, defeated Lakeside’s Danny Flynn 6-0, 6-0 and then Tyson Lim from Deer Park 7-5, 6-2.
Those wins earned him a shot at the singles title against season-long nemesis Andy Simmerman of Freeman, who Ray had lost to twice in early matches. Losses of 3-6, 2-6 made it a season sweep.
“Noah went out with composure, etiquette, and the utmost respect for the game of tennis,” Wesselman said. “He was a true gentleman on the court.”
Other Medical Lake district qualifiers included Matthew Montney who lost in successive matches in singles to Nolan Ng of Riverside, 0-6, 2-6, and Deer Park’s Jared Lee, 1-6, 1-6.
The boys’ doubles paring of Ethan Brown and Caleb Snow won their opening match against Deer Park 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. But they lost two of their next three and were eliminated.
Another doubles team of Zach Rojas and Palladin Goldberg went out in 0-6, 1-6 losses to Lakeside and 2-6, 2-6 against Deer Park.
In girls’ play Heather Barr had a 1-2 tournament with her win coming 6-1, 7-5 against Lakeside. The doubles teams of Sarah Ransom and Trinity Caputo and Stasia Hurt-Moran and Grace Remendowski each lost in consecutive matches.
Paul Delaney can be reached at pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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