Hawks' doubles team through
In the second round of the doubles tennis state tournament, Gila Ridge's Kevin Qian and Scott Nickerson lost the first set to a team from Apache Junction.
Then the pair decided they didn't want their season over that quickly.
Qian and Nickerson rallied to win 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 and advance to the third round today at Scottsdale Ranch Park.
“They woke up half-way through the match,” Gila Ridge boys coach Ben Holskin said. “They were kind of asleep for a while.”
The Hawks' singles player, Robin Beauregard, lost 6-3, 6-0 in the second round.
The doubles team for San Luis, Alonso Gonzalez and Abraham Gonzalez, won their first match 6-1, 6-0 but lost 6-1, 6-0 to the No. 6 seeded team from Brophy.
“Especially for Abraham, who was our No. 3 during the year, he never saw kids serve like that before,” San Luis coach Ian McDougall said. “Our guys never see players like that.”
Raj Singh-Kaila, Yuma High's singles player, won 7-5, 6-4 to open the tournament but ran into trouble in the second round and lost 6-1, 6-0 to Jon Hessler of Saguaro.
“He ran up against a buzzsaw in the second round,” Yuma High coach Chris Howard said. “But we put up a good showing. I was really happy about it.”
The Criminals' doubles team of Miguel Alcantar and Ricard Arauz advanced to the second round but lost 6-1, 6-1 to Arcadia.
In boys singles action, Cibola boys Brett Boyer won 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in the first round but fell in three sets to Michael Choffin of Marana.
“He played really tough, but the sun just got to him,” Cibola boys coach Duncan Phillips said of Boyer.
Santos Rangel of Kofa won his first round match 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 over David Casper of Westview. For San Luis, Eduardo Mendez advanced to the second round and lost 7-5, 6-3
On the girls side, Cibola doubles team of Shelby Chambless and Leslie Cruz-Rivera picked up a good draw and advanced to the third round, where they will have their hands full facing the No. 5 team from Corona at the Gene Autry Tennis Center in Mesa.
The Raiders' singles player, Ashreetha Murugesan, rallied in the first round to win 2-6, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 over Sadiya Buta of Desert View.
“That match was a marathon. It must have gone for four hours,” Cibola girls coach Cam Cong said. “A lot of the coaches gathered around to watch it and she certainly earned their respect.”
In the second round, Murugesan lost 7-5, 7-5 to the No. 8 ranked player, Julia Ortiz from Chandler.
Kofa's Michelle Manon and San Luis' Deliala Robles both won their opening matches. Manon won 6-3, 6-0 while Robles squeaked out a 7-5, 6-4 victory. San Luis' doubles team of Cristina Piceno and Audi Diaz beat the Tolleson team 6-2, 6-1 in the first round.
Gila Ridge's singles player, Alice Fiddler, won 6-3, 6-1 in the first round but lost 6-4, 6-2 in the second round. The Hawks' doubles' team, Katlyn Jones and Tayler McKenna defeated a tough team from Marcos, 6-2, 6-1 before falling 6-0, 6-0 to the No. 1 seeded team from Ironwood Ridge.
“That doubles team was head and shoulders above any players I saw at state,” Gila Ridge girls coach Dustin Sharstrom said. “(In the first round) they played a phenomenal team and (Jones and McKenna) just dominated. They were on top of their game.”
