By PAUL DELANEY
Staff Reporter
The Medical Lake boys’ tennis
team is doing a little late-season
tinkering, just like the girls, in
an effort to find a combination
that will perform best in the postseason.
The Cardinals came off last
week splitting a pair of Great
Northern League matches, losing
to Cheney 4-3 and beating Riverside
7-0 along with losing a nonleaguer,
4-3 at Gonzaga Prep.
“Leon (Johnson) played well at
No. 1 singles,†coach Justin Blayne
said, summing up the week. Blake
Andrews at No. 2 and No. 4, Jake
Wesselman, each collected wins
for the Cards.
But the match with Cheney was
decided in doubles where Medical
Lake has struggled. “It’s not that
we’ve been playing bad, it’s just
that we haven’t been playing good
enough to get consistent wins in
there,†Blayne said.
Andrews and Wesselman are
his latest line-up experiments to
correct the problem. “They played
number one dubs at both Gonzaga
Prep and Riverside, which was the
first time they’ve played doubles,â€
Blayne said. Both were wins.
There is a tradeoff Blayne said,
but it seems to be a good one. The
former No. 1 doubles team that
was playing - Caleb Ruble and
Ishmael Teshome - actually both
won at Gonzaga Prep.
Will he stay with the present
line-up? “I’d like to see them
against a stronger team in our
league, say a Clarkston or a Pullman.
“We don’t have much to
lose,†Blayne said.
Medical Lake has just one
league match when they host
Pullman at 3:45 today (April 29)
and then take part in the Inland
Empire Tournament.
Paul Delaney can be reached at
pdelaney@cheneyfreepress.com.
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