Tennis team rebounds for two straight wins

The Friday Harbor tennis team righted the ship last week with back-to-back wins on the road at Coupeville and Lynden high schools.

The Wolverines (5-3) avenged a recent loss against 1A rival Coupeville with a convincing 4-1 win on Oct. 8. Junior Peter Duggins gave Friday Harbor the early advantage with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Connor Jasoff in No. 1 singles. The Wolves evened the score as Ben Hayes easily tamed Wolverines’ sophomore Conor Lanphere 6-3, 6-1.

But Friday Harbor, boosted by the return of Josh Lehr, ran away with the win as all three doubles teams tallied victories against their counterparts.

Lehr and senior Mike Sandifer survived a spirited comeback bid by Jordan Lamb and Travis Curtan in clinching a tie-breaker and a 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) victory in No. 1 doubles.

Pablo Lopez and Zach Milkis coasted to a 6-2, 6-3 win in No. 2 doubles, while Nils Nelson and Nick Roberts were equally impressive in claiming the No. 3 doubles match up 6-3, 6-2.

On Friday at Lynden, Duggins wasted little time in crushing the Lions Jacob West 6-1, 6-2 in No. 1 singles, while Lanphere, at No. 2 singles, tumbled in a narrow 7-5, 6-4 loss to Travis McKee. The Wolverines rebounded with back-to-back pro-set wins in No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to clinch the victory for the team.

Lehr and Sandifer cruised with an 8-4, 8-4 victory while Lopez and Milkis tallied a 8-2, 8-5 win. In No. 3 doubles, Nelson and Roberts lost by the slimmest of margins after taking the opening set 6-4. But the Lions No. 3 doubles pair rallied to take the second set 7-6, with a 7-4 win in a tie-breaker, and then shattered the stalemate with a 11-9 win in a “super-tiebreaker”.

Next: Friday Harbor hosts 2A Stanwood on Thursday, beginning at 4 p.m., and travels to Coupeville Oct. 25 for the District 1A playoffs.

Contact Journal of the San Juans Editor Scott Rasmussen at srasmussen@sanjuanjournal.com or 1-360-378-5696.

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