Dobson an unruly guest for Cibola boys tennis
The Mesa-Dobson boys tennis team wasn't a very polite guest Thursday in its match at Cibola.
First, the Mustangs showed up nearly an hour late, delaying the start of the match. Then, when they were finally ready to go, they handed the Raiders a 7-2 defeat on their home courts.
"We didn't bring it today," Cibola coach Duncan Phillips said. "It's like we were flat."
Junior Tim Devey was a 6-0, 6-3 winner at No. 6 singles for Cibola, defeating Chris Walton for his first varsity victory of the year.
"I felt good, though at times I could have done better," Devey said. "I just put my heart into it; that's the main thing. I tried to outwork the other player."
Freshman Nick Pamplona was also a singles winner, earning a 2-6, 6-3, 14-12 victory over Logan Goebel at No. 3 singles - because the Mustangs arrived late, the teams played a first-to-10 tiebreaker instead of a third set. Pamplona said the key was refocusing himself after dropping the first set.
"I sort of slowed it down," Pamplona said. "I kept getting angry in the first set, but I tried to keep myself from getting down."
Vikaas Kumar lost 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5 singles to Jose Contreras.
"Vikaas hit the ball hard," Phillips said. "He didn't play pattycake."
Eric Burnett fell 6-3, 6-2 at No. 2 singles to Gavin McCorkle, while Martin Silverman lost 6-1, 6-4 at No. 4 to Ian Campbell.
No. 1 singles player Sharif Elgundi got off to a good start, breaking Alec Okun's serve and going up 2-0, but from there, the match was all Okun, who won 6-2, 6-1.
"I didn't like some of our attitudes on the court," Phillips said. "That's got to change. Some of the kids got so angry they forgot about playing. It's good to have intensity, but if you are too intense, if you get too down on yourself, that's not good.
"But this team is still gonna win some matches. We're not gonna quit."
The Raiders lost all three doubles matches.
Rich Polikoff can be reached at rpolikoff@yumasun.com or at 539-6882.
