Joey “Aces” Lippo lived up to his nickname, closing out Monday’s doubles win with partner William Nelson by slamming an ace past a Sequim rival. (John Fisken photo)
Monday afternoon offered a bit of everything for tennis fans.
A sun-splashed day that felt more like mid-summer than mid-September. Visiting royalty. Even a win for the Wolves.
Just not the right Wolves.
Despite putting up a strong fight against much-bigger competition, the Coupeville netters eventually fell 5-2 to visiting Sequim in a non-conference tilt.
Now 0-3 on the young season, the Whidbey Island version of the Wolves are learning under fire, having faced a pair of 2A schools and a private school power.
With Sequim, Coupeville faced off with a tennis squad coached by Mark Textor.
Along for the trip, his sister Phyllis, a Coupeville Sports Hall o’ Famer who spent 25 years working in the Coupeville school district and did just about every job possible — teacher, Principal, Athletic Director, volleyball and basketball coach to name a few.
It was a reunion, as she was the administrator who hired CHS tennis coach Ken Stange, now in his 11th year at the helm of the Wolf net programs.
His current boys squad didn’t go down without a fight, taking two matches outright while coming dangerously close to winning another two.
The titanic doubles duo of Will “The Thrill” Nelson and Joey “Aces” Lippo remained flawless on the season, controlling the net and slicin’ ‘n dicin’ a third straight foe in the match of the afternoon.
Hot on their heels was Grey Rische and Jimmy Myers, who improved to 3-0 as partners, dispatching their foes in straight sets with a mix of graceful shots (Rische) and booming, chest-flexing winners (Myers).
Two other matches came close to tipping Coupeville’s way, as the team’s top two singles players put up strong fights.
Nile Lockwood took the opening set in his match at second singles, but couldn’t hold off a late comeback and fell in a third-set tiebreaker.
Meanwhile, top singles ace Nick Etzell bounced back after a rough first set to pin his opponent down and thoroughly fluster him in a rough-and-tumble second set.
Up 5-1 in a second set tiebreaker, the Wolf junior hit a rough patch with his serve, however, allowing his Sequim counterpart to slip away.
Both Lockwood and Etzell will get another crack at sealing the deal, as Coupeville travels to Sequim Oct. 11 for a rematch.
Complete Monday results:
Varsity:
1st singles — Nick Etzell lost to Steve Prorok 6-1, 7-6(9-7)
2nd singles — Nile Lockwood lost to Dillon Liebert 5-7, 6-1, 10-7
3rd singles — Jakobi Baumann lost to Raymond Lamb 6-2, 6-1
1st doubles — Joseph Wedekind/John McClarin lost to Blake Wiker/Justin Porter 6-0, 6-2
2nd doubles — William Nelson/Joey Lippo beat Thomas Hughes/Damon Little 6-3, 6-1
3rd doubles — Jimmy Myers/Grey Rische beat Tim Porter/Paul Jacobsen 7-5, 6-4
4th doubles — Aiden Crimmins/Nick Blalock lost to Liam Payne/Brenton Barnes 6-2, 7-5
JV:
5th doubles — Mason Grove/Tiger Johnson beat Jake Ryan/Sam Frymeyer 6-4
6th doubles — Jaschon Baumann/Koby Schreiber lost to Liam Bratten/Aaron Jackson 6-2
7th doubles — Elliot Johnson/Grove beat Xavier Conway/Ben Wright 6-3
8th doubles — Lockwood/T. Johnson beat Nick D’Amico/Jonathan Hertz 6-1
Coupeville Sports 