Wahluke sweeps Royal Knights

ROYAL CITY — The Royal boys and girls tennis teams went undefeated in singles competition Thursday afternoon but couldn’t pull together in the doubles matches and Wahluke earned a pair of 3-2 victories over the Knights.

The Royal boys team jumped out to a fast start Thursday when Ben Singer continued his perfect season with a pair of 6-0 set victories over Wahluke’s Bryant Uribe.

The boys team took a 2-0 lead after both singles matches when Candelario Peraza defeated Wahluke’s Santiago Hernandez.

Peraza jumped out to a 6-2 victory in the first set before Hernandez rallied in the second and eventually forcing the match into a second-set tie break.

Hernandez took an early lead in the second set before Peraza stormed back, said Royal head coach Joshua Drewry.

“Peraza pulled through in a tough second set despite an early lead by (Hernandez) and Peraza held on for a 7-6 (7-5) victory,” he said.

Although the boys swept the singles competition, the Knights were forced to forfeit all three doubles matches and Wahluke slid past Royal for a 3-2 victory.

The Royal girls team finished the contest in much the same way as the boys.

The Lady Knights tennis team jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Emily Hoelscher held on to win the first set 7-5 over Wahluke’s Jenny Abarca. After a close start to the match, Hoelscher stormed past Abarca in the second set for a 6-1 win.

Following Hoelscher’s victory to start the girls contest, Breahna Weisser defeated Erica Macias 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to push the Lady Knights to a 2-0 lead. However, the Lady Knights dropped three straight doubles matches to fall 3-2 to visiting Wahluke.

Despite the loss, Drewry said he was proud of the way his team performed.

“(We had) great performances in all matches against fairly evenly matched opponents,” he said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way they played today. Emily Hoelscher continued her winning streak at No. 1 and Breahna Weisser logged her first win (at No. 2).”

Boys Tennis

Kamiakin 6, Moses Lake 1

KENNEWICK — The Moses Lake boys tennis team found themselves in an early hole Thursday afternoon and the Chiefs couldn’t pull themselves out as the Braves earned the 6-1 victory.

Kamiakin earned four straight victories in the singles matches to take a commanding 4-0 lead and Moses Lake couldn’t recover. Despite a victory by Dominic Cacchiotti and Kyle Livingston in second doubles contest, Moses Lake fell 6-1.

Cascade 3, Ephrata 2

EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers boys tennis team got of to a fast start when they swept the singles competition away from visiting Cascade Thursday afternoon.

Ephrata’s Tyler Van Heusden cruised to a two-set victory over Cascade’s Brandon Kraus 6-2, 6-0 for the early Ephrata lead. Connor Sears of Ephrata followed with a victory over Cascade’s Jordan Head.

While the singles cruised to a 2-0 lead, Ephrata lost three consecutive doubles matches and the lost the non-league match 3-2.

Girls

Kamiakin 5, Moses Lake 2

KENNEWICK — After falling behind 2-0 to start Thursday afternoon’s Big Nine girls tennis contest, the Moses Lake team rallied, but in the end they couldn’t catch the Kamiakin Braves.

Moses Lake lost a pair of singles matches to start Thursday’s contest before Melissa Calder helped cut the Kamiakin lead to 2-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 victory Sydney Obster.

Kamiakin rallied to close out singles competition for a 3-1 lead and the Braves took the first two doubles matches to clinch the match. However, the Chiefs came back with a victory in the final doubles match of the contest when Kelli Clark and Erin Frey knocked off Nicole Botten and Brittany Green to end the match.

The Braves held on to top the Chiefs 5-2.

Cascade 3, Ephrata 2

EPHRATA — The Ephrata girls tennis team swept the singles competition Thursday afternoon in Ephrata but the girls fell in the doubles matches and Cascade held on for a 3-2 win.

Ephrata jumped on the board with for 1-0 lead when Chloe Schmidt held on for a three-set victory over Cascade’s Ramona Schmid. Schmidt cruised to a 6-0 in the first set before dropping the second 3-6. Schmidt then cruised to a 6-3 third-set victory.

Mia Flint of Ephrata followed Schmidt with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Noel Parton of Cascade to put the Tigers up 2-0.

The Tigers eventually lost three straight doubles matches to fall to visiting Cascade 3-2.