Squalicum starts 2A district tennis tournament out strong

The Squalicum boys’ tennis team had two of its three singles players and a doubles tandem advance with wins in the first round of the Class 2A Northwest District Tournament on Friday, Oct. 16, at Sehome High School and Western Washington University.

On the singles side, Jared Rapp advanced with a hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 victory over Burlington-Edison’s Bowen King, while Spencer Thulin scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Burlington’s Jake Gardner. Rapp will take on top-seeded Max Shmotolokha of Sehome, who received a first-round bye, while Thulin will face Sedro-Woolley’s Kyle Beuse.

The Storm’s Liam Brownlie and Ethan Sailor advanced through the first round of the doubles draw with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Sedro-Woolley’s Sage Jones and Sam Hudson and will face Burlington-Edison’s Blair Dykstra and Han Hiller in the second round. Squalicum’s Kevin Smiley and Colin Weller also advanced to the second round with a bye and will face Anacortes’ Luke Rutz and Derek Norton.

Sehome also had a pair of singles winners in Michael Bornstein (6-2, 2-6, 6-3 over Bellingham’s Ignacio Gonzalez) and William Zahng (6-0, 6-0 over Anacortes’ Kian Patrick), giving the Mariners three singles players in the second round. Zahng next will face Shorecrest’s Chris King, while Bornstein will meet Archbishop Murphy’s Houston Schmutz.

Sehome also will have three doubles tandems in the second round, as Dane Faris and Henry Han grabbed a 6-2, 6-0 win over Sedro-Woolley’s Blaine Hindman and Myles Doorn to join the tandems of Darren Ma and Matthieu Jarrett and second-seeded Reece Gilbert and Shane Lynette, who each received first-round byes. Faris and Han will face Burlington-Edison’s Blake Browning and Tyce Konkle in the second round, while Mal and Jarrett drew Archbishop Murphy’s Josh Parafina and Andrew Sudol, and Lynette and Gilbert will take on Bellingham’s Koal Reyes-Schulze and Miles Henke.

Reyes-Schulze and Henke were one of three Red Raider doubles tandems to advance Friday with their 6-3, 6-3 win over Lynden’s Jo Meppelink and Cameron Muljat. Joining them were teammates Henry Ziels and Zach Nolan, who received a first round bye, and Lucas Irwin and Andrew Suter, who beat Lynden’s Tore Olson and Carson Smith 6-4, 6-3. Ziels and Nolan will face Archbishop Murphy’s Daniel Damitio and Travis Coop in the second round, while Irwin and Suter draw Anacortes’ Ryan Campbell and Derek Vance.

On the singles side, Bellingham’s Austin Shenton advanced with a first-round bye and will face Archbishop Murphy’s Ryan Castillo.

Lynden also saw Eli Gripp advance with a 6-1, 6-1 singles win over Squalicum’s Zac Gosda to face second-seeded Emahd Khan from Shorecrest in the second round.

The tournament continues Saturday, Oct. 17, with two more single-elmination rounds, before reaching the double-elimination portion of the tournament on Monday, Oct. 19, and wrapping up by crowning district champions on Tuesday, Oct. 20. The district will send the top two finishers in each draw to the state tournament in May.

This story was originally published October 16, 2015 at 8:51 PM with the headline "Squalicum starts 2A district tennis tournament out strong."