Davis sweeps visiting Chiefs

YAKIMA — Both the Moses Lake boys and girls tennis teams made the trip to A.C. Davis High School yesterday with hopes of continuing forward on recent improved play.

But the hosts had other ideas in mind as the Davis boys won 4-3 while the girls pulled away for a 6-1 triumph over the visiting Chiefs.

On the boys side, Connor Lange took a win at No. 1 singles for the Chiefs, with a 6-2, 6-1 victory. Also in singles, the Chiefs got a point from No. 4 player Mikael Mulgeta who won 6-3, 6-3.

With the squads splitting in singles, the dual came down to doubles play and Davis held on to win, taking decisions at No. 1 and No. 2, while the No. 3 team of Michael Mekonen/Nat Mengist recorded the final Moses Lake win, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.

“We let one slip today which is always disappointing,” Moses Lake coach Jon Wrigley said. “Some of my younger players got a bit tight as the match got close.  The positive part of this is the best cure for this is playing through these situations.  We got caught hoping for free points from our opponents instead of creating opportunities for ourselves. Davis played well and have clearly improved as a team, the boy’s gave great effort on all seven courts we were just a few points short in the end.”

In the girls match, the improving No. 3 doubles team of Amanda Hart and Annalise Odegaard took a 6-1, 6-2 win to give the Chiefs their sole team point against the hosts.

Davis was also able to pull out three three-set victories which made the difference in the final tally.

“We had some momentum building we did not close the matches out,” Wrigley said. “We lost three key tiebreaks that left us on the wrong side at the end.  Our lone win was of Hart and Odegaard who have won three straight since I have put them together.”

The Moses Lake boys team’s record fell to 6-4 and their two-match win streak came to an end.

Their girls counterparts are now 2-8.

Both teams continue their seasons Saturday in Spokane to play Mead at 10 a.m.