Coupeville Sports

  Ben Wehrman, seen here during a match earlier this season, teamed with Ben Etzell to handily win a key doubles match Friday. (Wendy McCormick photo)

It was a good day to be a tennis player in Coupeville.

The sun was out, the head coach had won a dance-off to defeat another teacher for the coveted title of Duke of Homecoming, none of the Wolf players took a tennis ball to the face at warp speed (more on that later) and the wins were coming fast and furious.

By the time they had wrapped up a brisk hour-and-a-half of court play, the Coupeville High School netters had swept visiting Friday Harbor 5-0 Friday afternoon, leaving their royal overseer — one Ken Stange, clad in his sash and crown as befits a man with the moves of an in-his-prime Patrick Swayze — quite contented.

“It was a fun day for us. Lots of wins. Time to go get ready for districts,” said Stange with a slight touch of royalty in his voice.

There had been laser shots delivered by Wolf ace Nathan Lamb, some impressive rallies and, for fans down on the end court, the rare sight of a Friday Harbor player winding up and accidentally blasting a (very low) overhead right off of the noggin of his hapless doubles partner.

To his credit, the Friday Harbor player managed to stay on his feet (barely) after being lit up at close range, adjusted his eye goggles and then seriously considered whether he should have played football — where the pain is considerably less.

The Wolves, who wrapped up a 4-4 regular season — the best record of any fall CHS squad — will now prepare for districts, set for next Saturday, Oct. 13 in Langley. That will bring together players from Coupeville, South Whidbey, Friday Harbor, Lummi Island and Meridian.

Coupeville will play an internal tournament this week to decide who earns its two singles and two doubles slots for the tourney. The battle for the singles spots should be wide open, as the team’s top singles players, Lamb and Aaron Curtin, will team up to play doubles, Stange said.

Complete Friday Harbor results:

1st Singles — Nathan Lamb beat Sean Hills 6-1, 6-3