Asfour, Era lead Chiefs' tennis at Inland Empire

SPOKANE — Adrian Juarez and Brent McCaffery led the Moses Lake Chiefs tennis teams over the weekend at the Inland Empire Tournament, finishing fifth in the boys doubles bracket.

The Chiefs' No. 2 tandem began play last Friday with a 3-6, 6-0, 4-10 super tiebreaker loss to Sean Flatlow and Jacob Gauche of University. Juarez and McCaffery rebounded with a 6-0, 6-2 win against Freeman's Ty Thomas and Aaron Verhei.

Juarez and McCaffrey moved on with a 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-5) slugfest win against Gonzaga Prep's Ian Burns and Nic Westfield. In their final consolation match, the Moses Lake duo took fifth with a 6-4, 6-1 decision over Connell's Brad Fox and Donovan Jones.

The mixed doubles pairing of Paul Asfour and Nanako Era also placed at Inland Empire, taking eighth.

Asfour and Era began with a 6-7 (4-7), 4-6 defeat to Hanford's Andrew Lea and Harneet Sandhu. They bounced back, defeating Madonna Gonzalez and Matt Johnson of Sunnyside (7-5, 6-1).

Asfour and Era stayed alive with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Joey Zielke and Kristen Rogers of Lakeside (Nine Mile Falls), but dropped their final match and settled for eighth, losing 1-6, 4-6 to Selah's Cody Alliston and Shelby Welch.

Moses Lake's Lars Odegaard competed in No. 1 boys singles. He lost his first-round match to Whitman Hough of Ferris (0-6, 0-6), then fell by the same score to Quincy's Cameron Rasmussen.

At No. 2 singles, Chief Andy Su was a 6-0, 6-0 winner over Davenport's Connor Glick in the first round. Gonzaga Prep's Jeff Spangler eliminated Su in the next match (1-6, 0-6).

The Chiefs' No. 1 doubles pairing of Tony Holiday and Ben Nye opened the tourney with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Sprague-Harrington's Dillon Haas and Andre Valentine. Holiday and Nye were then knocked into consolations with a 4-6, 6-2, 10-4 loss to Hanford's McLaughlin Thomas and Chad Witherspoon. Lewis and Clark's Nic Johnson and Chris Martin eliminated Holiday and Nye (2-6, 3-6).

In No. 2 mixed doubles, Moses Lake's Connor Lange and Emily White started out with a 0-6, 3-6 loss to Mead's Ryan Gerbing and Meg Ryan. Lange and White were eliminated by Medical Lake's Bri Bazo and Jeremy Marinos (4-6, 4-6).