And then, at last, there was tennis!
The art of smacking a fuzzy yellow ball around the hard court returned to Coupeville Thursday afternoon, as a young, highly excitable Wolf boys’ tennis squad finally got to face competition from another school and stopped badgering coach Ken Stange with the complaint “You never let us play anyone!”
With the start of its season slowed by other team’s inability to get a full roster up and practice-ready, Coupeville has had to bide its time and scrap within the family. Thursday, however, brought sunny weather and a fully-staffed opponent.
Unfortunately, that foe was tennis juggernaut South Whidbey, which dropped from 2A to 1A this season, but remained just as lethal as ever, drilling the Wolves 5-0.
Still, the ever-enthusiastic Stange found positives in the whitewash, singling out three-time District champ Nathan Lamb, who went down hacking like a mad man.
“The bright spot in our day was the play of Nathan. He played a close match,” Stange said. “There were quiet a few extended rallies that had both players running all over the court.
“The day wasn’t a total loss though, because our players managed to improve their play from the first to second sets,” he added. “Now we have an idea of what the competition looks like.”
Coupeville will get another crack at the big boys in a mere matter of days, when it travels to Langley Monday, Sept. 17 for a three-way tussle with both the Falcons and Friday Harbor.
Thursday results:
1st Singles — Nathan Lamb lost to Guy Sparkman 6-3, 6-4
2nd Singles — Aaron Curtin lost to Charley Stelling 6-2, 6-2
1st Doubles — Brian Norris/Ben Wehrman lost to Kyle Simchuk/Cameron Baldwin 6-3, 6-1
2nd Doubles —Ben Etzell/Sebastian Davis lost to Taylor Simmons/Jonathan Petersen 6-1, 6-1
3rd Doubles — Jason Knoll/Brandon Kelley lost to Mitchell Hughes/Jack Hood 6-0, 6-1
Coupeville Sports 
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