Jimmy Myers stays warm (and undefeated) as he and doubles partner Grey Rische stroll to a fifth straight win. (John Fisken photos)
With a flip of the wrist, Joseph Wedekind lashes yet another winner.
Rische has the magic touch.
Jakobi Baumann, just a wee bit intense on this afternoon.
Strategy.
It’s what separates mere coaches from gurus, and longtime Coupeville High School tennis head honcho Ken Stange has always lived in the second category.
He proved that once again Friday, shuffling his roster and playing mind games with visiting Klahowya, then watching his Wolves dance away with a 4-3 win and sole possession of first-place in the 1A Olympic League.
After battling large schools and private schools in preparation, Coupeville passed its first test to defending its league title.
While there are still five league matches to go — three against Chimacum and rematches with Klahowya Sept. 30 and Oct. 6 — the Wolves are sitting pretty at 1-0.
And they got there because Stange read the tea leaves and beat Klahowya at its own game, primarily by pulling Nick Etzell from his normal #1 singles slot and instead deploying him as half of a doubles duo.
It worked beautifully, as Etzell and partner-for-the-day Jakobi Baumann capped a Wolf sweep in doubles play.
“We swept the top three doubles matches with ease. The question was, how would a pair of singles players fare at #4 doubles,” Stange said. “After a bit of a rocky start, they rolled to victory.
“Jakobi got more steady and consistent as the match wore on, and Nick was able to take full control of the court,” he added. “I’ve asked him to do many things over the years — singles, and doubles with a plethora of partners.
“Today I asked for something different. I needed him to step up and take over a doubles match. He did just that.”
The coaching change-up forced Etzell to alter his style of play, and he responded beautifully.
“It’s a bit out of his character to be so assertive on court. He likes to share the load, so to speak,” Stange said. “Today, he covered a great deal of court real estate, and he lit up his opponents with a combination of touch angle shots and devastating power.
“It was so impressive!”
While all three other CHS doubles teams rolled, the win at #3 from Wolf seniors Jimmy Myers and Grey Rische was extra-notable, as it improved the duo to 5-0 on the season.
Complete results:
Varsity:
1st singles — Nile Lockwood lost to Taylor Fite 6-1, 6-0
2nd singles — Mason Grove lost to Caden Haga 6-0, 6-1
3rd singles — Aiden Crimmins lost to Spencer Winters 6-1, 6-1
1st doubles — Joseph Wedekind/John McClarin beat Parker Short/Will Stewart 6-1, 6-2
2nd doubles — Joey Lippo/William Nelson beat Ben Cook/Dominic Levenseller-Watson 6-0, 6-1
3rd doubles — Grey Rische/Jimmy Myers beat Logan Brunson/Morgan Seidel 6-2, 6-1
4th doubles — Jakobi Baumann/Nick Etzell beat Joe Bowman/Matt Hytinen 6-3, 6-2
JV:
5th doubles — Jaschon Baumann/Tiger Johnson lost to Haga/Levenseller-Watson 8-3
6th doubles — Grove/Elliot Johnson lost to Winters/Seidel 6-1
7th doubles — Zach Ginnings/Koby Schreiber lost to Connor Swaney/Eric Loehrs 8-2
**To see more photos (purchases fund college scholarships for CHS student/athletes) pop over to:
http://www.johnsphotos.net/Sports/BT-20160916-Coupeville-vs-Klah/
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