Everyone loves an underdog story, and in its last home match of the season on April 30, the Cheney boys tennis team delivered, defeating West Valley in a stunning 4-3 win.
Doubles play started out slow, with Cheney’s Jameson Powell and Mitchell Johnson losing 1-6, 1-6 to West Valley’s Ryson Cebriak and Logan Atkins. The number two doubles team comprised of Austin Passey and Sam Laughton didn’t fare any better, losing 1-6, 0-6 to the Eagles’ John Liberg and Alemayhu Raskell The Blackhawks lost the third doubles match by default due to a lack of players.
With a team score of three to zilch, the team had to sweep singles play for a chance at the win.
After dropping his first set 2-6, number one singles player Logan Ray battled back to take the second set 7-6 (7-5). He also closed out the third 6-2 against West Valley’s Spencer Jones, who Ray lost against early in the season.
Blackhawk singles player Jared Adams made quick work of his opponent Trevor McArthur 6-4, 7-5, while Cheney’s Alex Rose won in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 against the Eagles’ Arvid Engman.
That left number three singles player Trevor Stewart, down 4-5 in the second set after stumbling in the first and losing 6-3. But Stewart was able to pull out a 7-5 win in the second set and 6-3 win in the second, securing a Cheney victory.
“It was a great team win in which our players showed tremendous improvement from our first 1-6 loss against West Valley,” head coach Jesse Erickson said in an email.
In an away game against the Pullman Greyhounds May 2, Cheney lost 0-7 despite what Erickson called “a great effort.”
Cheney boys tennis finished fourth in the league. All their focus will now go to getting ready for the district tournament at Washington State University, Erickson said.
Shannen Talbot can be reached at shannen@cheneyfreepress.com.
Reader Comments(0)