Chiefs, Pirates split match

MOSES LAKE - The Chiefs opened Big 9 league play with a split at home against the Pirates Tuesday. The boys team had little trouble with Davis in a 6-1 win, but the girls struggled as they dropped their match 1-6.

"It was a good way to start the season for the boys against a talented Davis team," coach Jon Wrigley said. "We knew it would be a tough match for the girls as Davis is the defending league champion and returned three state qualifiers to the team this year."

Boys

The boys got off on the right foot in the first singles match that saw Drew Perez turn back Kyle Miller in two sets 6-4, 6-3. The Pirates picked up their only win of the day when Daniel Catton turned back Tiernan Hall 6-0, 6-4 in the second singles match.

But it was all Moses Lake after that as the Chiefs won the next five games.

Jace Hunt picked up a win in the third singles match after taking two tie-breaker sets from Hunter Long 7-6 (4) and 7-6 (10). And in the number three singles it was Bryan Earl chalking up a two set victory over Ty Goulet, 6-2, 7-5.

The Chiefs Jordan Earl and Josh Hirz turned back Jonathan Davis and Skyler Ketchum in the first doubles match of the afternoon, 6-1, 6-3 to give Moses Lake a 4-1 lead.

The number two doubles team of Nolan Knapp and Marco Sanchez kept it rolling for the home team with a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win over Christian Castro and Luke Kim, and the number three doubles Jesse Alvarado and Pedro Barreras put a stamp on the boys victory with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Elias Borges and Tarik Snow.

"We had some close singles matches ... it was nice to see Jace Hunt win two tie breakers," Wrigley said. "Bryan Earl did an outstanding job considering he just started playing tennis a few months ago."

Girls

The girls team found little success against the visiting Pirates as they dropped six of seven games.

The Chiefs only victory came in the last match of the day when the number three doubles team of Micayla Friend and Sierra Gallaway came from behind to turn back Madeline Patten and Taylor Russell in three sets 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

First singles Courtney Kunjara lost her match 1-6, 1-6 to Megumi DeMond. Second singles Carina LeFave was shut out by Paige Toop 6-0, 6-0, third singles Ece Yilmaz dropped her match to Erica DeMond 1-6, 3-6, and fourth singles Marki Koeris was defeated by Emma Montmeny in two sets 1-6, 3-6.

The Chiefs first doubles team of Liz Busherd and Cira Schwab were turned back by Andrea Hohman and Peyton Long, 2-6, 2-6, and second double Quennie Bacat and Julia Medel lost to Karla Avila and Haley Hargreaves in two sets, 1-6, 0-6.

"We are not quite as deep on the girls team as we are on the boys," Wrigley said. "We are still piecing things together, but are improving each time out."

Moses Lake is back on the court Friday when the Chiefs host a nonleague match against Mt. Spokane at 10 a.m. Moses Lake gets back to league play at Eastmont March 26.

"We try and schedule competitive nonleague matches and Mt. Spokane is in the upper half of the Great Northern so I expect this to be a good test for our kids," Wrigley said. "Eastmont has a lot of talent and are one of the better teams in the league, so if we expect to be in the upper half of the competition, we need to beat them."