CHS tennis coach Ken Stange honored Heather Nastali and five other Wolf seniors Thursday. (Photos by JohnsPhotos.net)
Kameryn St Onge fires a shot back against Chimacum as she and Maggie Crimmins stroll to a win.
Play to your strengths.
Getting a sweep from its four doubles teams Thursday, the Coupeville High School girls tennis squad pulled out a 4-3 win over visiting Chimacum and claimed its fourth-straight Olympic League title.
The only Wolf athletes to achieve the four-peat (CHS girls basketball fell a game short of a fourth title), the netters finish the season 5-1 in conference play, 7-8 overall.
Coupeville went 20-1 against Klahowya, Chimacum and Port Townsend across the past four seasons.
After opening with a 6-0 run in 2015 during the debut season of the Olympic League, the Wolves finished 5-0 and 4-0 the past two years.
In both of those seasons, they clinched the title early, and rain-outs against league foes weren’t made up, hence the smaller win/loss totals.
This season came all the way down to the finale, however.
Chimacum and Coupeville entered Thursday both sitting at 4-1, having split their two prior meetings.
With two varsity players, Genna Wright (WE Day in Seattle) and Zara Bradley (illness), unavailable, the Wolves shuffled their lineup a bit.
But, in the end, Coupeville got the same dynamic play from its doubles duos it has been able to rely on all season, regardless of how the lineup card is filled out.
While Stange hailed all of his duos, two made a big impression in the spotlight.
Seniors Maggie Crimmins and Kameryn St Onge, who have played together all four years, “wielded their magic racket wands once again.”
The duo are looking especially strong as they head into Monday’s Olympic League tourney (10:45 AM start at the CHS courts), where trips to districts will be decided.
Stange also praised sophomores Tia Wurzrainer and Avalon Renninger, whose win at #2 doubles was the deciding point in the battle for the team win.
The precocious netters knew the match, and title, hung on their bout, and embraced the honor, attacking with glee and then bumping rackets with a little more ferocity as they neared the win.
“Avalon and Tia established themselves as a force to be reckoned with,” Stange said. “They were undefeated in league this year, and today they dispatched who will be Chimacum’s top duo in Monday’s tourney.”
With Wright and Bradley out, freshmen Emily Fiedler and Jaimee Masters also got a chance to step up, and it was a huge step.
After playing doubles all season, the two Wolves made their singles debut in the year’s biggest match, and both cracked their fair share of winners against veteran foes.
“Emily and Jaimee dipped their toes into the varsity waters. They came up short, but played quite well,” Stange said. “This should bode well for them next season.”
Along with a league title hanging in the balance, Thursday was Senior Night for Wolf old-timers Payton Aparicio, Heather Nastali, Claire Mietus, Sage Renninger, Crimmins and St Onge.
Mietus and Nastali joined the tennis program as juniors while the other four went the whole way, and their coach got a bit misty-eyed as he honored all six.
“Twenty seasons of tennis from six seniors. That is a lot of time, effort, energy, and dedication,” Stange said. “Coupeville’s Class of 2018 made a positive impact on the CHS tennis program.
“It’s been an honor working with you all over the past four years,” he added. “I know the six of you are destined for great things in life, and I hope that you continue making tennis one of your lifetime sports.”
Nastali was praised for her “flexibility in playing in whatever spot was needed on a given day” and Mietus for her “willingness to play the best players that the big schools had to offer.”
Stange noted that St Onge, “the most acrobatic person on our team” and Crimmins, “the person with the sunniest disposition,” had spent four years as doubles partners, “and you’re still friends!”
When it came to his captains, Aparicio and Sage Renninger, the net guru informed them they were the best girls doubles duo, hands down, he has coached in his 13 years at the helm of the CHS program.
“You were the Alpha Wolves before you even knew it,” Stange said, emotion in his voice. “I’ll never forget that first week of 9th grade tennis and how you broke the hearts of so many aspiring #1 doubles teams.
“You were so darned nice about it, too!,” he added. “You never backed down, and you’ve never looked back.
“Sage and Payton, thank you both for setting the standard. Thank you for the wins, for the giggles, for the leadership, for paying it forward and being outstanding stewards of the program.”
Complete Thursday results:
Varsity:
1st Singles — Heather Nastali lost to Gladys Hitt 6-1, 6-0
2nd Singles — Jaimee Masters lost to Renee Woods 6-0, 6-0
3rd Singles — Emily Fiedler lost to Makaela Caskey 6-2, 6-4
1st Doubles — Payton Aparicio/Sage Renninger beat Marley Music/Christina Bell 6-0, 6-0
2nd Doubles — Avalon Renninger/Tia Wurzrainer beat Grace Yaley/Chloe Patterson 6-1, 6-3
3rd Doubles — Maggie Crimmins/Kameryn St Onge beat Madison Hess/Denisse Lopez 6-1, 6-3
4th Doubles — Jillian Mayne/Claire Mietus beat Chiara Vignale/Claudia Garfis 6-3, 6-0
JV:
5th Doubles — Nanci Melendrez/Elaira Nicolle beat Jaden Long/Olivia Mattern 6-0
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