Coupeville Sports

   Wolf netters (l to r) William Nelson, Pedro Gamarra and Joey Lippo hang out at the district tourney. (Connie Lippo photo)

For the second straight year, Coupeville High School netters Joey Lippo and William Nelson came within one win of advancing to the state tournament.

But, despite ending the West Central District III boys tennis tourney Thursday with a victory over league rivals, the Wolf duo have reached the end of a remarkable four-year run together.

Maybe.

Having finished third at districts, Lippo and Nelson are the alternates to state, which means they could still get the call if illness, injury or, say, a kidnapping, were to go down and make life miserable for either of the top two duos.

There’s plenty of time for unforeseen circumstances to develop, as boys tennis is played by some schools in the fall and some in the spring.

That means state isn’t held until late May, when Lippo will likely be playing baseball for CHS and Nelson running the soccer pitch for the Wolves.

If that call doesn’t come, though, the duo can look back on a stellar career, where, except for two matches, they played together as an exclusive doubles team for all four seasons.

Coming off a title at the Olympic League tournament, Lippo and Nelson opened districts with a win Wednesday, then lost a titanic three-set battle to a Vashon team Thursday morning.

Coupeville’s best rebounded to drill a duo from Klahowya, which moved them forward into a rematch with the Vashon netters in the second/third place match.

Except…

District tourney rules are clear — “if a rematch occurs during the tournament this match will not occur and the winner from the first match will advance to the next round.”

While it might seem unfair, Coupeville was dinged by the exact opposite rule a couple of years back, when Aaron Curtin was denied a trip to state when he lost a rematch to a Vashon player he had already beaten.

So, basically, no matter which way the rule is written that year, the rich school will ALWAYS come out on top in the hoity-toity world of high school tennis.

End of story.

While Lippo and Nelson finished districts with a 2-1 record, Coupeville’s other four competitors — singles aces Pedro Gamarra and Jakobi Baumann and doubles duo Nick Etzell and Mason Grove — went two and out.

Baumann, a junior, and Grove, a sophomore, are the only Wolves who could return next season.

Etzell, Lippo and Nelson are seniors, while Gamarra is a foreign exchange student.

Complete Thursday results:

Singles:

Pedro Gamarra:

Lost to Zain Mian (Charles Wright) 6-3, 6-0
Lost to Amadeo Gallina (Vashon) 6-1, 6-3

Jakobi Baumann:

Lost to Jacob Kraft (Klahowya) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles:

William Nelson/Joey Lippo:

Lost to Wyatt Kepler and JJ Bogaard (Vashon) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5
Beat Morgan Seidel/William Stewart (Klahowya) 7-5(8-6), 6-1

Mason Grove/Nick Etzell:

Lost to Mason Rice/Hank Rogers (Vashon) 7-6, 6-4