Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

PREP BOYS' TENNIS: Doubles draw loaded for 2A district tournament

Defending state singles champion Riley Newman of South Whidbey is back. So is runner up Will Topp of Sehome.

Even the guy who finished third to those two in last year's Class 2A Northwest District Boys' Tennis Tournament, Sehome's Evan Madill, returns after missing out on state when the district received only two berths into the state draw. All he's done since finding out in mid-spring that third place was not good enough to go to state is roll up 16 straight singles victories this fall to lead the Northwest Conference.

Combined, Newman, Topp and Madill have lost only one match this season, and that was when Topp knocked off Newman in a rematch of last year's district and state championship match.

Even though the district receives three singles and three doubles invitations to state this year, it's easy to see why a number of coaches have decided to put their best players in the doubles draw to try their luck at getting someone through to the state tournament.

"You've got to figure those three guys are going to be real tough to knock off," Sehome coach Bonna Giller said. "It's going to take a real tough player playing a great match or one of those three having a little bit of an off day to beat them. I know there are not any better players in this district than those three. In what order they'll finish, I don't know."

The result is a wide-open doubles field once the tournament starts on Saturday, Oct. 17, at Sehome High School with single-elimination play-in matches. The first-round, which also is single-elimination, and the quarterfinals are scheduled to follow on Tuesday, Oct. 20, with the district championship and third-place matches slated for Thursday, Oct. 22, weather permitting.

"There are so many quality doubles teams in this field," Bellingham coach Steve Chronister said in a phone interview. "Just look at the play-in matches. I've seen a couple of guys at the state tournament that aren't as talented as the guys that will be playing play-in matches. Most are, but, wow, there are some great teams."

It starts with Sehome's top-seeded Matt Goebel and Myles West, who are a perfect 13-0 when playing together this year. Goebel advanced to state with a different playing partner last year and ended up taking fourth.

"Matt and Myles have proven themselves, going unbeaten so far this year," Giller said. "They need to continue to play strong and consistent, but I feel confident they can get back there."

Bellingham's Andrew Troutman and Kyle Buckham, who played predominantly singles during the regular season but were always expected to be paired up to make a run at getting to state, enter as the No. 2 seed and should pose the greatest threat to Goebel and West. They placed sixth at state two years ago as sophomores and desperately want to get back after failing to make it last year.

Like Troutman and Buckham, Sehome's William Giller and Bjorn Thorpe focused most of their playing time in singles this year, but they enter as the No. 3 seed in the doubles draw. Giller went to state in doubles with a different playing partner last year and managed to advance to the state championship match before falling to a team from Interlake.

"William and Bjorn have not really been tested while playing together this season," Bonna Giller said. "When they have played doubles, it has been against some of our weaker opponents. It's easy to play good and put up impressive numbers when you're not playing somebody tough, so it will be interesting to see how they respond."

If they respond by getting to state, Sehome could take four entries - one more than it took last year when it won the team state championship.

"That's going to be really tough for us to do," Giller said. "There are too many good players in this tournament to look at it and say we can do that at this point."

Included in that list are Squalicum's doubles teams of Nathan Vail and Ryan Crawford, who spent most of the year playing together, and teammates Ian Kraus and Greyson Herdman, who spent most of the year manning the Storm's No. 1 and No. 2 singles spots.

Lynden's Briley Benner and Andrew Blair also should be in the mix to go to state after posting a 9-4 record together as the Lions' top doubles team.

Burlington-Edison also has a couple of doubles teams to watch with usual singles players Carson Thompson and Craig Babington moving to doubles to give the Tigers a pair of formidable looking teams.

"I don't think anybody feels comfortable this year," Chronister said. "In the past, maybe you had an easier opponent or two in the earlier rounds, but I don't think that will happen this year. All the first-round matches are single-elimination, and they will be tough, even the ones where you're facing a (play-in) winner."

Topp is the top seed in the singles draw, with Newman on the other side of the bracket and Madill getting the third seed. South Whidbey's Van Morgan is the fourth seed, and Bellingham's Ethan McKell, who has been playing very well in recent matches, according to Chronister, hopes to surprise some people as the fifth seed.

If rain interrupts Saturday's play, the plan is for the tournament to start two hours early on Tuesday so that all the play-in matches can be completed and the first round can still start at noon. To make that work, some of the matches would likely need to be played on the courts at Western Washington University.

CLASS 2A NORTHWEST DISTRICT TOURNAMENT

Pairings

Saturday's matches

Singles

Play-in matches

Kurtis Reardon (Lynden) vs. Brendan Riley (South Whidbey); Kyle Hoback (Squalicum) vs. Jack Lefebvre (Burlington-Edison); Jay Roper (Lynden) vs. Josh Crowe (Bellingham); Dougal Brownlie (Squalicum) vs. Michael Kim (Anacortes); J.J. Small (Burlington-Edison) vs. Casey Hsu (Anacortes)

Doubles

Play-in matches

Jonah Jolley/Erik Vanderbilt-Matthews (South Whidbey) vs. Corey Campbell/Chris Archer (Anacortes); Sean Higgins/Brandon Bessler (Anacortes) vs. Travis McKee/Sebastian Kent (Lynden); Steve Raden/Malcolm Donahoe (South Whidbey) vs. Payton Weidenbacher/Jake Davis (Sehome); Zach Comfort/Harrison Price (South Whidbey) vs. Andrew Clarke/Reilly Kintzele (Bellingham); Austen Wagner/Karl Shilhanek (Squalicum) vs. Etienne Luiten/Cody Saben (Burlington-Edison)

Tuesday's matches

Singles

First round

Will Topp (Sehome) vs. Kurtis Reardon (Lynden)-Brendan Riley (South Whidbey) winner; Tanner Larson (Squalicum) vs. Will Stewart (Burlington-Edison); Ethan McKell (Bellingham) vs. Kyle Hoback (Squalicum)-Jack Lefebvre (Burlington-Edison) winner; Jay Roper (Lynden)-Josh Crowe (Bellingham) winner vs. Van Morgan (South Whidbey); Evan Madill (Sehome) vs. Dougal Brownlie (Squalicum)-Michael Kim (Anacortes) winner; Nick Smith (Sehome) vs. Tobias Goldman (Anacortes); Will VanderVeen (Lynden) vs. Nolan Barniol (Bellingham); J.J. Small (Burlington-Edison)/Casey Hsu (Anacortes) winner vs. Riley Newman (South Whidbey)

Doubles

First round

Matt Goebel/Myles West (Sehome) vs. Jonah Jolley/Erik Vanderbilt-Matthews (South Whidbey)-Corey Campbell/Chris Archer (Anacortes) winner; Nathan Vail/Ryan Crawford (Squalicum) vs. Corey Geffe/Tyler Hayes (Anacortes); Elias Troutman/Reed Welch (Bellingham) vs. Sean Higgins/Brandon Bessler (Anacortes)-Travis McKee/Sebastian Kent (Lynden) winner; Steve Raden/Malcolm Donahoe (South Whidbey)-Payton Weidenbacher/Jake Davis (Sehome) winner vs. Carson Thompson/Zach Holtzheimer (Burlington-Edison); William Giller/Bjorn Thorpe (Sehome) vs. Zach Comfort/Harrison Price (South Whidbey)-Andrew Clarke/Reilly Kintzele (Bellingham) winner; Craig Babington/Brandon Jenkins (Burlington-Edison) vs. Briley Benner/Andrew Blair (Lynden); Ian Krause/Greyson Herdman (Squalicum) vs. Jacob West/Aaron Libolt (Lynden); Austen Wagner/Karl Shilhanek (Squalicum)-Etienne Luiten/Cody Saben (Burlington-Edison) winner vs. Andrew Troutman/Kyle Buckham (Bellingham)