Doubles teams lead Hawks’ boys to ML win

By JOHN McCALLUM

Editor

There’s nothing like a win to take the

sting out of disappointing losses.

The Cheney boys’ tennis team got a little

salve for the shellacking they received from

Clarkston and 4A Mead two weeks ago by

winning the last two of three matches to

edge Medical Lake 4-3 at home Tuesday.

The feeling didn’t likely last long though

as the Blackhawks took it on the chin in

Pullman, losing 7-0 to the Greyhounds

Thursday.

Against the Cardinals David Denenny

had good shot angles but struggled with unforced

errors in losing 3-6, 3-6 to Leon Johnson

at No. 1 singles. Tanner Tait effectively

employed what head coach Jesse Erickson

called “chipping and charging” in the first

set against Blake Andrews, only to have the

Cardinal improve his shot selection to take

the match 6-2, 1-6, 1-6 at No. 2.

Paul Kauwe was good at the net in the

first set against Austin Schoonover, and

after Schoonover made adjustments in the

second, got an early break and used short

returns and better endurance to win 6-2,

4-6, 6-4 at No. 3. At No. 4, James Higuera

lost 1-6, 4-6 to Jake Wesselman.

Cheney swept the doubles matches.

Jacob Weisgerber and Justin Bockstruck

were strong with their serves and returns in

downing Caleb Ruble and Ismael Teshome

6-3, 7-5. Jared Bennett and Dylan Nelson

used their height advantage to win points

at the net in beating Brytin Powers and

Keegan Ronholdt 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2.

The match’s outcome hinged on the

No. 3 doubles match between Cheney’s

Henrik Flygare and Zac Malik, and ML’s

Andrew Ryan and Jordan Jacob, and the

Blackhawks’ experience together paid off,

breaking serve at 4-4 in the second set for

the 6-2, 6-4 win.

“It was a solid win for us,” Erickson said.

“I knew it was going to be close.”

Whatever the Blackhawks had against

Medical Lake didn’t travel to Pullman,

although in several matches the score on

paper doesn’t reflect what took place on

the court, Erickson said.

Tait moved up to No. 1 singles, losing

0-6, 0-6 to Mitchell Tang. Kauwe’s shots

stopped falling in the second set of his 6-

7 (2-7), 2-6 loss to Nikhil Sablani at No. 2

while Flygare played well but came up just

short at No. 3, losing 2-6, 7-6 (7-2), 4-6 to

Dongyang Chen.

“That second and third set was probably

the best tennis I’ve see him play this season,”

Erickson said, adding the junior was

hitting deep returns, employing lots of top

spin and serving effectively.

Malik started strong but couldn’t counter

his opponents’ adjustments in losing 3-6,

1-6 to Ian Harkins at No. 4.

In doubles, Denenny and Higuera

teamed for the first time at No. 1, and it

showed at first. The duo were inconsistent

in the first set against Sam Schad and Nishant

Dwivedi, an experienced team whose

only loss this season was to the top pair in

the league, Clarkston’s Nick Van Cleave

and Shawn Callahan. That inconsistency

evaporated in the second set as Denenny

and Higuera began getting better court

position, but eventually they fell a service

break short in losing 3-6, 6-2, 4-6.

Weisgerber and Bockstruck struggled

with serves in losing 3-6, 2-6 to Tony

Wang and Jackie Wu at No. 2. Erickson

felt Nelson and Bennett didn’t get warmed

up enough, but played much better as the

match went on, eventually falling 0-6, 6-4,

2-6 to Jimmy Yin and Yihao Jiang at No. 3,

losing tight games in the third set.

“We had some really close matches,”

Erickson said. “I felt like we had our

chances to beat them, we just couldn’t

capitalize.”

The results give Cheney a 3-5 record

in the GNL. The Blackhawks take on West

Valley on Tuesday, and then get some nonleague

exposure in Friday and Saturday’s

Inland Empire Tournament, taking place

at high schools in Spokane and Spokane

Valley.

J o h n M c C a l l u m c a n b e r e a c h e d a t

jmac@cheneyfreepress.com.