 |
Tigers will not defend as state champions
NHS track teams head to districts
St. Paul girls denied one more title
Sharks take home fifth from Mac
Bruin relay team cuts time, continues climb
George Fox baseball team earns No. 3 spot in
regionals
|
NHS falls short in quest for title |
The boys tennis team places second at the Pac-9
district tennis tournament |
By B. Scott Anderson, Newberg
Graphic sports editor
E-mail Scott at banderson@eaglenewspapers.com
|
The Newberg High School boys tennis team
came within inches Friday of winning the Pac-9 Conference district
tournament.
Playing at Willamette University the tournament came down to a
single match — the doubles championship. It pitted Tualatin’s John
Minger and Ryan Wieder against Newberg’s Andy Carsley and Ryan
McBride. After going back and forth for the entire
match, Minger and Wieder handed McBride and Carsley a narrow 6-4,
6-7 (4-7 tiebreaker), 7-6 (7-5 tiebreaker).
McBride and Carsley had their chances in the final set to win, but
were unable. They were up 6-5 before Tualatin battled back to a tie.
In the tiebreaker, McBride and Carsley found themselves ahead 5-3,
needing two more points to claim the title. Instead, Minger and
Wieder scored the next four points and went on to pick up the win.
With the win, Tualatin claimed the team championship. If McBride
and Carsley had won, it would have been Newberg’s first team title
in Pac-9 Conference history.
“We were so close and we were thinking it was going to happen, but
those four points just slipped away,” said NHS coach Dave Brown. “It
was tough and it’s never fun to lose. We had a lot of fans there and
it would have been nice to win not only the doubles championship but
the team title, as well.”
Brown said all four players in the finals were close in terms of
talent.
“It was just a good tennis match,” he said. “There were so many
great shots from all four kids. When the scores are that close, you
can tell the skill level is about dead even.”
Mixing close talent levels and it being both teams’ fifth match in
two days made for an entertaining final.
“It was fun, though,” Brown said. “It would have been just awesome
to win it.”
McBride and Carsley made it to the finals with a 6-1, 6-2 win over
Wyatt Messenger and Tim McNaught of Tualatin earlier Friday.
The tandem of Jeremy Quinby and Josh Brown nearly pulled off an
upset in the semifinals, but suffered a 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, loss to
Minger and Wieder. The loss put Quinby and Brown
in the hunt for third place, where they notched a 6-4, 6-2, win over
Messenger and McNaught.
“(Messenger and McNaught) lobbed a lot and (Quinby) and (Brown) had
to really fight fatigue and it was frustrating to play that type of
game,” Brown said.
Brown told both NHS doubles teams how he felt after their matches.
“I just told them that my feeling was that I couldn’t have been
more proud of you guys,” he said. “I told them that ‘You guys were
all thoroughly entertaining’ ... It was the best situation at the
high school tennis level.”
Despite their losses, both doubles teams advance to the state
tournament, which starts Friday. Quinby and Brown are set to take on
West Linn’s John Hattenhauer and David Kraxberger, an unseeded team.
If Quinby and Brown advance, they will most likely face the No.
7-seeded team at the tournament, Alec Wallen and Rusty Hand of
Corvallis.
Brown said NHS will have to play aggressively at the tournament to
be successful.
“Our guys are going to have to serve well and return well,” he
said.
McBride and Carsley will play Jesuit’s Mike Merz and Paul Andrews
in the opening round. Merz and Andrews are Jesuit’s No. 1 doubles
team, but aren’t seeded in the tournament. If McBride and Carsley
triumph, they will likely take on the tournament’s No. 5 seed,
Lincoln’s Brad Bacherider and Andy Crooks.
“We’re going to take a lot of chances and get to the net,” Brown
said of McBride and Carsley. “We’re not going to sit back and rally
with them. We want to end points quickly and be really aggressive.”
Of the four players only one is returning to the state tournament
— McBride. He and doubles partner Gabe Caruso lost 6-0, 6-0, in the
opening round last year and were eliminated from the tournament.
Competing at the state level will be a new experience for Brown,
Quinby and Carsley.
“Getting to the state tournament is huge in tennis,” Brown said.
“Out of the 108 kids who get there from the state, about 60 are
repeat kids so for (Carsley), (Brown) and (Quinby) it’s huge.”
But Brown said there is no mistaking that the Tigers aren’t
satisfied just to be in the tournament. They want to win.
“I told them I’m not just happy to get there — we’re past that,” he
said. “We can’t go in there and trade jabs. We have to be really
aggressive.”
|
|
From
May 19, 2004,
Newberg Graphic
Click Here to Subscribe |
|
|
