Medical Lake's Mason Satko returns a serve during his doubles match with team mate Noah Young. The duo won their match 6-0,6-0.
MEDICAL LAKE – The Cardinal tennis team's split wins over the last couple of matches, with the varsity boys taking both recent showings and the girls team falling short during both events.
Medical Lake boys team beat Riverside 3–2 on March 28. In the first singles match brackets, Cardinal Josh Burt fell to the Rams Dylan Nortz 6-7 (6-8), 1-6. Ryen Gibby won the other singles match over Gavan Dunagan 6-0, 6-2.
Doubles Tristan Francis and Isaac Barr of Medical Lake topped Andrew Trochta and Tyce Lyons 6–3, 6–1. Brayden Dickey and Brody Rector won their doubles match, beating Cody Mitchell and Logan Dell of Riverside 6-3, 6-0.
Head coach Dawn Eliassen said the boys' team is looking to repeat as district champs, a title they earned last season.
"This boy's team is mostly returning varsity players from last year. However, 2021 was a shortened six-week season due to COVID," Eliassen said. "They won the team title at the district tournament last year, so they have some drive to repeat that success this season. Mason, Brayden, and Brody are our three new players, so it's exciting to see Brayden and Brody get a league win."
Eliassen said the girl's team played hard, but in the end, Riverside overpowered them four matches to one. Doubles Liliana Barnes and Kayden Mindermann were the only Cardinals to notch a win beating Riverside's Savannah Day-Menedy and Grace Walcott 4-6, 6-0, 4-2.
"This is so exciting for these girls," Eliassen said. "Kayden is a brand-new player and both girls stepped into the varsity line-up from JV for this match. To collect the only win of the day was an added bonus."
Similar results transpired during the matches on April 1, as the Cardinal boys went 4-1 over Freeman while the Medical Lake girls fell 4-1.
Coach Eliassen explained that although Josh Burt started strong in his match, his opponent used specific techniques to come back and win Freeman's only match of the day.
"Josh was 100% in this match and had a 4-1 lead in the second set," Eliassen said. "In the end, Mounts started hitting high rolling balls deep to Josh's backhand. High backhands are difficult for players at all levels, and it paid off for Freeman."
Eliassen also noted how her team had been practicing certain game styles as well, and it helped Mason Satko, and Noah Young win their doubles match over Scotties Sam Kemble and Dawson Bickler in straight sets, 6–0, 6–0.
"This was a fun one to watch because Noah and Mason put into play some of the new, more aggressive playstyle strategies we had worked on during practice," Eliassen said. "Both played strong at the net and their serving was much improved."
Eliassen said Freeman is a tough match up for her team, and although they lost four of five matches, she is optimistic about their performances.
"Freeman seems to field a strong set of girls each year. This year is no exception, "she said. "I'm pleased with the match-ups and outcomes from today. These scores are much better than last year's against the Scotties- and more importantly, the quality of play was better. Our girls were in the points and making winners or forcing errors from their opponents."
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