Sports - High Schools

POSTED: Monday, Jun. 01, 2009

PREP BOYS' TENNIS: Sehome shows its strength with team title

SEATTLE - Anyone that doubts that tennis can be a team sport needed only watch and listen during the second set of the Class 2A Boys' State Championship singles final on Saturday, May 30, to learn differently.

Sehome's Will Topp, playing in his first state championship match, had just dropped the first set to South Whidbey's Riley Newman and was in a 5-1 hole in the second. But just when things began to look their darkest for Topp, his personal cheering section - made up of Mariners teammates who had not qualified to play in the state tournament at the Nordstrom Tennis Center - seemed to put some life back in him.

"My whole varsity team made it down here," Sehome coach Bonna Giller said. "They brought a lot of spirit. It was really neat to see those guys come all the way down here to pull for their teammates."

Not just pull for them, but inspire them with cheers. It almost worked, as a fired-up Topp won his next three games before ultimately falling to Newman, the younger brother of girls' three-time singles state champ Lindsey Newman, 7-5, 6-4.

Though the Mariners travelling booster club didn't get to see Topp win a singles title or teammates Micah Koenig and William Giller win the doubles final, they did get to share in Whatcom County's first team championship. With Topp taking second in singles, Koenig and William Giller taking second in the doubles draw and a fourth-place doubles finish from Dustin Koenig and Matt Goebel, the Mariners scored 25 points to easily win the team championship. Ellensburg was second with 15.

"After last year and coming into the fall this year, these guys knew they could be part of something pretty special," Bonna Giller said. "They worked at it hard during the offseason, and it's so good to see them be able to do it like this."

The only things that would have made it even sweeter for Sehome, which tied for second place in 2008, would have been adding a singles or a doubles state championship to the mix. But against top-quality opponents, like Newman and the Interlake doubles tandem of Jason Sheih and Nikita Nosov, that just wasn't in the cards this year.

"I think winning the team title is great," William Giller said. "It shows the quality of players we have on our team and in our district. We knew we had some really good players, but when we come down here an play against all the other districts and have this type of success, it's a nice reminder to them all that we can play tennis pretty good in our corner of the state."

Topp certainly looked good in the semifinals, beating Clarkston's Dustin McConnell 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the state championship match and set up the rematch of the Northwest District final against Newman.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair that Newman eventually managed to win, before he won four straight games in the second set to put Topp on the brink.

"I think Riley just played an exceptional match, considering the pressure they both were under," Bonna Giller said. "Will played pretty well, but he forced some things he probably didn't need to force."

But that's when Topp's teammates managed to get him back in the match with chants of "Will! Will! Will!"

"Those guys were great," Topp said. "I was thankful to have them up there. They got me to start having some fun."

The fun continued, until Newman managed to break Topp's momentum and claim the championship.

Topp finished the season with a 21-2 mark, with both losses coming to Newman. With both players being sophomores, it's likely this was not the last chapter in the budding rivalry between the two players from the same district.

"I'll be ready to face him next year," Topp said. "He was just better at his game right now."

Micah Koenig and William Giller found Sheih and Nosov also had some pretty good game when they met in the finals after Koenig and Giller beat Mike Kmorowski and Bryan Elliott 6-1, 6-7, 6-4 in the semifinals earlier in the day.

The championship match was back-and-forth throughout, as the Sehome duo attempted to trade shot for shot with their talented opponents.

"We played pretty solid," Koenig said. "Our ground strokes were working pretty well on their serve. We definitely felt like we left it all out there on the court."

After trading game for game in the second set, Interlake eventually put the match away for a 6-3, 6-4 win.

"We're not at all disappointed by this," William Giller said. "We knew going into the match that whichever way that match went, we were going to be one of the two best teams in the state. We just lost to a pretty good team today."

Teammates Dustin Koenig and Goebel could commiserate, as it was Sheih and Nosov that knocked them into the consolation bracket during Friday's quarterfinals. But Koenig and Goebel rebounded with a consolation win on Friday and followed it up with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Clarkston's Drew Adams and Derek Young in another consolation match early Saturday to secure a third medal for the Mariners.

Koenig and Goebel made sure it was a fourth-place medal, beating Yakima West Valley's Garret Mullen and Chris Chappel 7-5, 6-4 in the fourth-place match.

"Two second places and (a fourth) is pretty good," Topp said. "I think that definitely shows the talent we have on this team. We're pretty happy with that."

CLASS 2A STATE TOURNAMENT

Saturday's results

Nordstrom Tennis Center, Seattle

Team scores: 1. Sehome 25; 2. Ellensburg 15; 3. Interlake 12; 3. Clarkston 12; 5. Chehalis W.F. West 11; 6. South Whidbey 10; 7. Selah 8; 7. Sequim 8; 9. West Valley (Spokane) 5; 10. Grandview 4; 11. Klahowya 2; 11. North Mason 2; 11. Othello 2; 11. Pullman 2; 11. Steilacoom 2; 11. Wapato 2.

Singles

Consolation third round

Josiah Jackson (Ellensburg) def. Aaron Porter (Ellensburg) 6-3, 6-0

Yasser Khon (Chehalis W.F. West) def. Rogi Fajard (Grandview) 6-0, 6-1

Semifinals

Will Topp (Sehome) def. Dustin McConnell (Clarkston) 6-3, 6-2

Riley Newman (South Whidbey) def. Kashif Khon (Chehalis W.F. West) 6-2, 6-3

Fourth place match

Josiah Jackson (Ellensburg) def. Yasser Khon (Chehalis W.F. West) 6-2, 6-4

Third place match

Dustin McConnell (Clarkston) def. Kashif Khon (Chehalis W.F. West) 6-1, 6-2

Championship match

Riley Newman (South Whidbey) def. Will Topp (Sehome) 7-5, 6-3

Doubles

Consolation third round

Dustin Koenig-Matt Goebel (Sehome) def. Drew Adams-Derek Young (Clarkston) 6-3, 6-3

Garret Mullen-Chris Chappel (West Valley) def. Mike Kmorowski-Bryan Elliott (Ellensburg) 6-1, 6-7, 6-4

Semifinals

William Giller-Micah Koenig (Sehome) def. Reed Gunstone-Mallory Maloney (Sequim) 6-3, 6-3

Jason Sheih-Nikita Nosov (Interlake) def. Kevin Bertelsen-Devin Teske (Selah) 6-3, 6-3

Fourth place match

Dustin Koenig-Matt Goebel (Sehome) def. Garret Mullen-Chris Chappel (West Valley) 7-5, 6-4

Third place match

Kevin Bertelsen-Devin Teske (Selah) def. Reed Gunstone-Mallory Maloney (Sequim) 2-6, 6-0, 7-6

Championship match

Jason Sheih-Nikita Nosov (Interlake) def. William Giller-Micah Koenig (Sehome) 6-3, 6-4