Cardinals sweep Freeman in tennis

MEDICAL LAKE — Medical Lake’s boys’ and girls’ tennis teams both earned victories over Freeman April 17. The boys won 4-1 and girls 3-2 both at Freeman.

While boys lost their No. 1 singles match as Tristan Francis was defeated 4-6, 2-6 by Freeman’s Ben Chadduck, the rest of the afternoon belonged to Medical Lake.

“It was a tough match for Tristan, but he learned a lot,” head coach Brian Telez wrote in an email. “After the match we had a good chance to discuss new strategies to better apply his skills and strengths.”

Josh Burt had a default victory at No. 2 singles then RJ Puckett. Then Isaac Barr collected a 6-4, 2-6, 6-0 win at No. 1 doubles followed by Ryen Gibby and Jonah Lindsey earning a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 2 doubles. Cameron Dickey and Noah Young won by default at No. 3 doubles — their second consecutive win.

“After winning the first set and losing the second it can sometimes be hard to mentally recover and come back to win the match,” Telez observed of the No. 1 doubles outcome. “But they did it, and with a new energy I haven’t yet seen from them.”

In girls’ play Medical Lake swept both singles matches, one on the court, the other by default.

Suzana Gavrilyuk rallied to win at No. 1, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

“Her mental game was rock solid,” Telez said. “Between sets she took feedback and ran with it, incrementally improving her game and ultimately dominating the court.”

Freeman won at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles but Medical Lake collected the team win by default at No. 3.

“This was the first match for many of these girls,” Telez said. “They were put against a team with much more experience (and prevailed).”

Soccer

Medical Lake boys’ soccer split a pair of opening matches last week, beating Newport 4-1 in a Northeast A League contest April 13 before losing a non-league encounter with Northwest Christian 8-1 on April 17.

Grant Spangler scored 3 goals and Mavrick Rasmussen scored a goal in Newport. Braxton Charon had a goal on Saturday against NWC. 

The Cardinals played at home against Deer Park April 20 and travel to Lakeside April 22.

Paul Delaney is a retired Free Press Publishing reporter and can be reached at pauldelaney53@comcast.net.