Aaron Curtin went 3-0 Monday to capture the singles title at the inaugural 1A Olympic League tourney. (John Fisken photo)
The Wolves have arrived.
In the biggest triumph of Coupeville High School’s short run in the 1A Olympic League, the boys’ tennis squad upended heavily-favored Klahowya in the league tourney Monday in Kitsap, qualifying four players for Districts.
Singles players Aaron Curtin and Sebastian Davis went one-two (with Davis shocking the #1 seed in the semifinals) and will be joined by the duo of Connor McCormick and Loren Nelson, who rebounded from an opening loss to claim fourth place in doubles.
Districts will be held Saturday, Nov. 1 at a time and site yet to be determined.
After his team’s impressive run Monday, longtime Wolf coach Ken Stange was sky-high.
“It was a great tourney!,” he said. “We exceeded expectations in singles, and we met expectations in doubles.”
The tourney, which brought together Klahowya, which had gone 4-0 in league play, Coupeville and the combined forces of Chimacum and Port Townsend, was played with a slightly different format than normal.
Instead of playing best two sets out of three, matches were pro sets to eight, win by two.
Curtin went 3-0 on the day, nipping Davis (2-1) in an all-Coupeville finale that came down to a tiebreaker.
Davis, riding high after bouncing Klahowya’s #1 player in the semis, had a 4-1 advantage on Curtin in the tiebreaker, before the senior rebounded to rip off six straight points to notch the win.
While Stange was pleased to see Curtin, who went to state as a doubles player last year, seize the moment, he was equally impressed with the continued rise of his #2 player.
“Sebastian had a coming out party of sorts,” Stange said. “Early in the season, he was playing well, but having a hard time closing the door on his opponents.
“As we hit the final third of the season, he really came alive,” he added. “He’d already had consistency and a bit of power, but he added some tenacity to the mix — a bit of the killer instinct.”
Taking down the tourney’s top seed, who beat Curtin during regular season play, was an unexpected bonus.
“Sebastian made two very big statements today,” Stange said. “He established himself as a co-#1 singles player.
“He also let it be known that the singles court is all his next season. He is the early pick as top player in the league,” he added. “With more off-season practice, he’ll be challenging the private schoolers at districts, looking to advance to May play.”
Not that the Wolf junior can’t make that jump right now.
“Both Sebastian and Aaron stand a good shot to advance to state, if they bring their respective A games this weekend,” Stange said.
Coupeville’s third singles player, senior Kyle Bodamer, went 1-2, just missing a spot in the semifinals opposite Curtin.
McCormick and Loren Nelson fell in their opening match, then stormed back to win two in a row and advance.
Freshmen Joey Lippo and William Nelson knocked off Chimacum’s #1 team before losing to the eventual champs.
They were eliminated along with Bodamer and the team of Joseph Wedekind and John McClarin, who lost both of their matches.
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