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ATM? Still dastardly!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , , on September 29, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Sebastian Davis, seen here last season, pushed a top foe hard Monday, getting himt o cramp-up in the second set. (John Fisken photo)

   Sebastian Davis, seen here last season, pushed a top foe hard Monday, getting him to cramp-up in the second set. (John Fisken photo)

Monday was throwback day.

The Coupeville High School boys’ tennis team hit the road — for the fourth time in four matches — and went down Everett way to reacquaint themselves with their former Cascade Conference mates at Archbishop Thomas Murphy.

To no one’s surprise, a ritzy private school has managed to build an impressive tennis program in three short seasons, a fact the 2A Wildcats reminded the Wolves to the tune of 5-0.

The non-conference loss dropped Coupeville to 2-2 on the season, with both of their losses coming against top-level competition.

The Wolves (1-0 in league play) will now pick up pursuit of their first 1A Olympic League title, playing five of their final six regular season matches against league foes.

The first of those matches, however, has been postponed.

Coupeville was supposed to make its home debut this Wednesday, Sept. 30 against Chimacum, but that match has been postponed and will be rescheduled later in the season.

Monday’s match, if nothing else, featured the return of the coolest-sounding high school tennis player in all the land.

Priever Pretorious may play for ATM and not Coupeville, but was there ever a name that sounded more like a mysterious tennis assassin?

No, no there was not. Well played, parents.

Monday results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Sebastian Davis lost to Houston Schmutz 6-2, 6-3

2nd Singles — Connor McCormick lost to Ryan Castillo 6-1, 6-3

1st Doubles — John McClarin/Joseph Wedekind lost to Priever Pretorius/JT Burtsche 6-1, 6-4

2nd Doubles — Joey Lippo/Lilan Sekigawa lost to Parker Sand/Trent Maier 6-2, 6-2

3rd Doubles — Jared Helmstadter/Grey Rische lost to Luke Van Hollebekke/Josh Palafina 6-4, 6-3

JV:

4th Doubles — Jimmy Myers/Garrett Compton won 6-2

**Only JV score reported**

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McCormick stands tall for Wolf netters!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , , , on September 24, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Wolf senior Connor McCormick celebrates his win at #2 singles with the president of his fan club. (Wendy McCormick photo)

   Wolf senior Connor McCormick celebrates his win at #2 singles with the president of his fan club. (Wendy McCormick photo)

(Ken Stange photo)

   Coupeville’s netters pose with the brand spanking new score cards they bought for their coach. (Ken Stange photo)

Langley is where Wolf tennis dreams often go to die.

It’s an undisputed fact South Whidbey has had a stellar tennis program for eons, and, while the names may change, the quality hasn’t.

That was proven again Thursday, as the Falcons dumped Coupeville 4-1 in a non-conference tilt, sending the Wolves to their first team loss after two straight wins to open the season.

While a loss is never fun, there was hope on this day, however.

First, South Whidbey is annually the toughest foe CHS faces, and you only get better by playing the best. And, once in awhile, a Wolf rises up and smacks a Falcon upside the head.

Thursday it was #2 singles player Connor McCormick, who roared back after dropping the first set, eventually winning a three-set slugfest.

“Connor has been so steady and he continues to hone his game,” said Coupeville coach Ken Stange. “He’s turned into a solid singles performer.”

Stange also paid tribute to the doubles duo of Joey Lippo and William Nelson, who were nipped in an epic third-set tiebreaker and top gun Sebastian Davis, who had the misfortune of clashing with Falcon net royalty.

“Joey and William played a fantastic match,” Stange said. “It was a thriller. A few points here or there and the outcome could have been reversed.

“Sebastian also played well at #1 singles, but young Kody Newman is a talented ninth grader. We are no stranger to the Newman clan. They’ve been slaying us for years!”

Newman’s many older siblings combined to accumulate four state tennis titles.

Also putting Stange in a top-drawer mood was a surprise present from his players, who showed up bearing brand-new scorecards for the CHS tennis courts.

The new addition will be on display when the Wolves host their home opener Wednesday, Sept. 30 against Chimacum.

“I had no idea this was coming,” Stange said. “From what I gather, a bunch of the guys got together, they pooled what I know was a decent chunk of change, and then they took it upon themselves to make it happen. I was touched.

“From the opening day of practice, we’ve had a great deal of fun, and the boys have represented the school and community quite well,” he added. “This is a great example of their goodness.”

Complete Thursday results:

Varsity:

1st Singles — Sebastian Davis lost to Kody Newman 6-1, 6-4
2nd Singles — Connor McCormick beat Ryan Wenzek 1-6, 6-3, 6-1
1st Doubles — John McClarin/Joseph Wedekind lost to Jacob Nelson/Hank Papritz 6-3, 6-1
2nd Doubles — William Nelson/Joey Lippo lost to Michael Hastings/Ari Rohan 4-6, 6-3, 14-12
3rd Doubles — Jimmy Myers/Lilan Sekigawa lost to Angus Dubendorf/Larsen Christensen 6-4, 6-1

JV:

1st Singles — Cole Payne lost 8-1
2nd Singles — Garrett Compton lost 8-6
1st Doubles — Grey Rische/Jared Helmstadter lost 8-6
2nd Doubles — Nile Lockwood/Aiden Crimmins lost 8-1
3rd Doubles — Nick Etzell/Tiger Johnson lost 8-1
4th Doubles — Jakobi Baumann/Jaschon Baumann lost 8-3
5th Doubles — Nick Blalock/Santiago Ortiz lost 8-2

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Eagles crash and burn as Wolves howl!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , on September 18, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Cole Payne pulled out a three-set win Friday to help lift the Wolves to a huge win over Klahowya. (John Fiskern photo)

   Cole Payne pulled out a three-set win Friday to help lift the Wolves to a huge win over Klahowya. (John Fisken photo)

Slow start, hot finish.

Recovering nicely after a couple early bumps, the Coupeville High School boys’ tennis team stormed back to thrash host Klahowya 5-2 Friday, taking the first step to winning a league title banner.

The win lifted the Wolves to a flawless 2-0 on the season, 1-0 in 1A Olympic League play.

If the CHS boys want to join their female counterparts, who put up a league title banner in the spring, they’ll have to dethrone the defending champs, which just happens to be the team they walloped.

They did it by sweeping all four doubles matches and getting a win at #3 singles from converted football player Cole Payne.

Coupeville trailed in the match early, after dropping two of the first three matches to be wrapped.

Singles players Sebastian Davis (6-4, 6-0) and Connor McCormick (7-5, 6-2) were nicked by the Eagles, but the doubles duo of John McClarin and Joseph Wedekind rolled to a win (6-3, 6-1) to keep Wolf hopes semi-high.

Hope surged when Joey Lippo and William Nelson pulled out a victory in three sets (6-0, 5-7, 6-4) knotting the match at 2-2.

After that, it was all Wolves, all day.

Payne came back to net a 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 win in his first-ever varsity singles match, and then Coupeville got straight-sets wins from the duos of Jimmy Myers/Lilan Sekigawa (7-6, 6-4) and Grey Rische/Jared Helmstadter (6-2, 6-2).

The Wolves also rolled to wins in the only two JV matches that were done before the siren call of the ferry forced them back on the bus.

Nick Etzell and Garrett Compton won 6-3, while Nile Lockwood teamed up with Aiden Crimmins to pull a sweet 6-0 bagel job on the Eagles.

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Freshman netter delivers big hits, big laughs!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , on September 16, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Nile Lockwood fires up a service during practice. (Ken Stange photo)

   Nile Lockwood fires up a serve Wednesday afternoon during practice. (Ken Stange photo)

Nile Lockwood has made a fast impression.

“He’s a wild one, but he’s also very kind and funny,” said Coupeville High School tennis coach Ken Stange.

“And sometimes inappropriate,” he added with a huge laugh.

Since Stange is an easy-going free spirit with a wild sense of humor himself, it’s a player/coach match made to order.

Lockwood, a Wolf freshman who started playing tennis six month ago, made his regular-season debut Monday in Sequim, teaming with Aiden Crimmins to play doubles.

It’s just the start of a journey Lockwood hopes will go on for some time.

“I started because it was a lot of fun to play and everyone was super friendly,” Lockwood said. “My goal is to have a great season and win most of my games and make varsity next year.”

Like most younger players, he’s beginning to learn what parts of his game are already set, and what needs to be tweaked.

“One of my strengths is my power,” Lockwood said. “I would like to work on my backhands, because they’re not as strong as my forehand.”

Away from the court he has hopes to “get through high school with good grades and go to college” and he has come to deeply appreciate the help offered by family, his coach and some of the Wolf veterans.

“The people that have helped me out the most are (fellow Wolf player) John McClarin, Ken Stange and my mom for getting me to all the practices and lessons I’ve taken,” Lockwood said. “And just about everyone on the team.”

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Boom! Down go the champs!!

Posted in Boys Tennis, tagged , , , , , , on September 14, 2015| Leave a Comment »

Jared

   Jared Helmstadter teamed with brother Grey Rische to capture a vital come-from-behind three-set win Monday. (John Fisken photo)

This is how you start a season.

Having waited its turn seemingly forever, as all of the other fall sports teams at Coupeville High School played two or three contests, the Wolf boys’ tennis squad finally saw action Monday.

And what action, as they used three come-from-behind wins to topple 2A Sequim 4-3 in a non-conference match.

The season-opening road win came against a school that not only is much larger than 1A Coupeville (it has three times as many students) but also is the defending 2A Olympic League champs.

On this day, that mattered not to the Wolves, as they battled back to claim three-set wins in three separate matches, all after having lost the first set.

It was actually even more of a comeback, as Coupeville trailed 3-1 on the day, and if any of the final three matches had fallen the other way, team defeat would have been the flavor of the day.

Instead, it was miracle time.

“We couldn’t have been any closer to elimination,” said Wolf tennis coach Ken Stange. “This was the best team win I’ve ever experienced with the boys.”

Connor McCormick pulled out a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win at second singles to kick-start things.

“Connor took his doubles skills to the singles court,” Stange said. “He served and volleyed, which is pretty rare for singles players.

“Connor epitomized calmness today; his final set showed he was able to maintain a high level of consistency and concentration in the match,” he added. “He has always been our best net player. It was fun to see him use those skills in singles.”

The Wolves put the match away by dominating in doubles, winning three of four.

Joey Lippo and William Nelson strolled to a 6-3, 6-0 win at second doubles, while #3 (Jimmy Myers/Lilan Sekigawa) and #4 (Grey Rische/Jared Helmstadter) had to dig down deep for their victories.

Myers and Sekigawa lost a tense tiebreaker 7-6 to open their match, then rebounded to take the next two sets 6-4 and 10-8, while Rische and Helmstadter prevailed in a razor-tight match 4-6, 6-4, 10-7.

“Jimmy and Lilan were high energy, and so were their opponents. They didn’t make it look easy,” Stange said. “Instead, they made it look like it took every ounce of their energy to win.

“They play an unorthodox style. Combined with the high energy, they will often put opponents into uncomfortable situations.”

With the match squared at 3-3, the deciding point came from Coupeville’s real-life brothers.

“Grey and Jared picked up the deciding point. They knew that they were the deciding match, too,” Stange said. “In the past, pressure has been a bugaboo for them.

“I’ve been preaching staying relaxed. They made good on it. They breathed.”

Coupeville’s three losses came at first singles (Sebastian Davis fell 6-1, 6-0), third singles (Garrett Compton went down 6-2, 7-5) and first doubles (Joseph Wedekind/John McClarin were nipped 6-4, 6-2).

But wait, there’s more:

The Wolves pushed their hosts hard in JV action as well, winning two matches.

5th doubles — Nick Etzell/Cole Payne won 8-6
6th doubles — Aiden Crimmins/Nile Lockwood lost 6-3
7th doubles — Tiger Johnson/Jaschon Baumann lost 6-4
8th doubles — Jakobi Baumann/Santiago Ortiz won 6-3
9th doubles — Nick Blalock/Payne lost 6-0

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