The Dalles tennis players, from left, Andy Lopez and Pedro Lopez were in action Thursday in a league match against Hermiston. Both teams racked up four wins apiece, but the host Bulldogs won the match on sets, 10-9, to get the victory.
The Dalles tennis players, from left, Andy Lopez and Pedro Lopez were in action Thursday in a league match against Hermiston. Both teams racked up four wins apiece, but the host Bulldogs won the match on sets, 10-9, to get the victory.
Riding high off its first win over Hood River Valley in more than four years, The Dalles boys’ tennis team played Hermiston to a 4-4 draw, but was edged out in total sets won, 10-9, in a league match played Thursday on the campus of Hermiston High School.
“We have two league matches left before districts and I feel like our boys are at or near the top of the Columbia River Conference, which will put us in a great spot when it comes to district seeding,” said The Dalles head coach Shea MacNab.
Of the eight matches, The Dalles won two in straight sets and added a pair of third-set match-breaker victories, but had one match-breaker loss at No. 2 doubles.
Quinn Wilson continued his current upswing with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Jose Gonzalez in a No. 1 singles battle, and at No. 4 singles, Andy Lopez had to work overtime to finally outlast his opponent, Jose Sanchez.
Lopez won the first set by a 6-4 tally, but Sanchez inched ahead late in the second set to secure a 7-6 win to send this showdown into a match-breaker.
In that third set, Lopez found his second wind, moving ahead by a 10-6 score to get the decision.
“Andy worked his entire match and never gave up,” MacNab said. “He did not play his best, but he never quit and I greatly admire his effort and fortitude.”
James Pashek lost 4-6, 0-6 in a No. 2 singles match against Caleb Jorgenson, and Pedro Lopez had a close match, but wound up on the wrong end of a 4-6, 3-6 margin in a No. 3 contest versus Hayden Cissna.
Hermiston came out victorious at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, as the top tandem of Thomas McCullough and Patrick Wicks dispatched of Alex Lopez and Omar Rodriguez, 6-0, 7-5.
Koby Grigg and Jason Morris gave the Bulldogs their fourth win of the day in a three-set marathon versus Brandon Bustamante and Ethan Martin.
Bustamante and Martin dominated the opening-set by a 6-1 margin and nearly pulled off a straight-sets win, but lost 6-7 in the second set, sending the match into a match-breaker round.
Grigg and Morris rallied for a 10-6 triumph in the third set.
Devam Patel and Justin Eiesland had a back-and-forth No. 3 doubles match against Matt Eckhardt and Austin Garcia, where the Hermiston duo picked up a 6-4 opening-set win.
Patel and Eiesland did not let that loss stop their fire, as they teamed up for a 7-5 second-set win and capped their comeback with a 10-5 match-breaker margin.
“Devam and Justin continue to play great together,” MacNab said. “A couple of weeks ago, in their last match against Hermiston, Justin and Devam had to forfeit during a third-set match-breaker because Justin injured himself.”
At No. 4 doubles, TD’s Edgar Contreras and Jose Reyes fought hard for a 7-5 win in the first set and then dropped the hammer down on Alan Zepeda and Eli Muniz, 6-0, in the second to chalk up a winning effort.
“We had great matches from Quinn, Andy, Devam and Justin, and Edgar and Jose,” MacNab said. “Edgar and Jose are a new doubles team this year, as Jose played his way onto our varsity squad earlier in the week. They looked great for their first match together and came out with a win.”
The Dalles plays in a daylong Intermountain Conference Crossover Tournament starting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Madras, and then hosts Pendleton in a league contest at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 26.
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