ARLINGTON – The Eagles doubles team of senior Ben Spores and junior Ben Nichols is going to state.
Tennis coach Ben Mendro said in an email Wednesday that it’s a historic moment for the school.
They are the “first male players in recent memory (possibly ever) to advance to state in tennis,” he wrote. “They made some phenomenal plays in both their matches yesterday.”
Mendro said they’re both very athletic, hard-hitting players who can cover a lot of court. They also played a number of singles matches, which helped their doubles play, he added.
“I think the fact that they made a commitment to playing together from before the season started helped a lot,” he said.
The team placed third in the 3A District Tournament here to qualify. They did it in surprisingly easy fashion.
Mendro said they were in sync and in the right frame of mind as they beat the Snohomish team of Kristian Mock-Cameron Stephenson 6-2, 6-3. The teams battled each other during the season, with each posting wins.
Since they were in the consolation bracket they had to win once more Tuesday to advance to state, which is May 24-25, 2019 in Kennewick.
Spores-Nichols beat the Edmonds-Woodway team of Drew Boland-Alec Matulka 6-4, 6-3.
In singles play, Eagle teammate junior Taras McCurdie tried to duplicate their feat. But he lost to Adam Kowalchk 6-2, 6-4. McCurdie won the Wesco league singles tennis crown, but ran into trouble in the district tourney, losing his first-round match to Tyler Gettman of Shorewood 1-6, 6-2, 0-6 Monday.
He won his consolation match Monday against Eyler Anderson of Everett 6-3, 6-3 before being eliminated by Kowalchyk, whom he beat last week for the league Interestingly enough, Spores-Nichols lost their opening match at district to Boland-Alec Matulka 7-5, 6-2 to fall into the consolation bracket. Aaron Kalab and Treven Southhard of Marysville-Pilchuck also lost in the first round 6-1, 6-1.
So, those two doubles teams played in the consolation bracket with the loser out. The Eagles team beat the squad from M-P 6-2, 6-3.
Last week in Snohomish, McCurdie won the singles title at the Wesco 3A North Tournament.
He blanked his first opponent 6-0, 6-0 then in the semifinals won 6-2, 6-2. He then beat Kowalchyk in the championship match.
Eagle teammate Keaton McBride won his first-round match, but then was eliminated by Kowalchyk 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
Parker Devereaux of M-P won his first-round matchup 6-3, 6-3. He lost in the next round 7-6, 6-2 before being eliminated in the consolation bracket.
Bob Green and Colby Wagstaff, both of MG, lost in the first round, as did Trae Tingelstad of M-P.
In doubles, Spores-Nichols placed second in league, losing the first set 6-0, battling to win the second 7-6 with 7 points in the tiebreaker, but falling in the third set 6-3.
Kalab-Southard placed fourth. They won their last match 6-4, 6-4. Arlington’s team of Tomas Ramirez-Cody Perdue also made the consolation semifinals but lost. Spores-Nichols won their semifinal match 6-3, 6-2. Connor Peterson-Carson Asper of M-P made it to the semifinals before losing.
Ramirez-Perdue and Kalab-Southard won their consolation rounds to advance.
Ramirez-Perdue lost in the quarterfinals, while Peterson-Asper won their battle 6-0, 6-7 (11) and 7-4 (4). Spores-Nichols won their quarterfinal match over Kalab-Southard 6-3, 6-0.
Ramirez-Perdue won their first-round match in three sets; Peterson-Asper in straight sets; and Kaleb-Southard in three sets over Jax-Larkin-Kanyen Sherwood of M-P 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Losing in the first round for MG were: Eben Heacock-Evan Sprague and Walker Braillard-Luke Olason.
