West Valley sweeps Moses Lake in CBBN tennis action
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldMoses Lake's Trenton Vance rips into a forehand during his No. 1 singles match on Tuesday against West Valley.
Rodney Harwood/Columbia Basin HeraldMoses Lake No. 1 singles player Trenton Vance stretches to make a return during his match on Tuesday against West Valley.
MOSES LAKE — There’s not a lot of chinks in the West Valley armor and Moses Lake tennis coach Rich Gregoire was counting on a strong performance from his doubles teams in Tuesday’s Columbia Basin Big Nine match-up.
The West Valley boys (7-1, 5-1 CBBN) rolled into town with just the one conference loss to Wenatchee and played up to their billing with a 6-1 victory.
“There were some close doubles matches and it was a lot closer than it looks on paper. We’re a little disappointed it wasn’t a 4-3 decision in our favor,” said Gregoire, whose team fell to 4-2, 3-2 CBBN. “They’re so tough in singles, we were hoping to sweep doubles and see if we couldn’t steal one in singles somewhere. We have good depth across the whole team, we’re just trying to match up a little bit at the top with them today.”
The lone Chiefs victory came at No. 1 doubles where James Zimmer and Canon Gregoire defeated Keegan Verbrugge and Jasper Kim in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.
“There were some real good exchanges at the net, but our guys were a little more consistent on their ground strokes,” Gregoire said. “My guys returned pretty good tonight and served well. It was a good win and maybe the best they’ve played together this year.”
The No. 2 and 3 doubles was where the match was decided. The Chiefs dropped a couple of close ones.
Garrett Vance and Vaughn Koreis of Moses Lake won the first set 7-5, but West Valley’s Charskie Kinloch and Kai Griffiths came back to win No. 2 doubles in three sets, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3. In the No. 3 doubles match, Josh Vanda and Kade Greenburg dominated the first set, winning 6-0, but struggled to keep the momentum, falling 0-6, 6-3 and 10-2 match tie-breaker to Stephen Cox and Kai Griffiths.
“Kai served really well early in that match and got them the lead,” Gregoire said. “They picked it up and played well to dominate that match tie-breaker. But it was a really strange match in how we got out and won the first set 6-0.”
The West Valley girls (7-0, 6-0) are on top for a reason and the CBBN-leaders swept Moses Lake 7-0.
The Chiefs were competitive at No. 2 singles where Chiefs’ Erin Manly dropped a 6-4, 6-3 decision to Joanna Shieh of West Valley.
The Moses Lake teams host Eisenhower on Thursday.
Boys singles: James Morton, WV, def. Trent Vance, 6-0, 6-0; Corban Kinloch, WV, def. Travis Holt, 6-0, 6-1; Grayson Messer, WV, def. David Hernandez, 6-0, 6-0; Colby Kitt, WV, def. Brian Nguyen, 6-0, 6-3 Boys doubles: James Zimmer and Canon Gregoire, ML, def. Keegan Verbrugge and Jasper Kim, 6-3, 6-4; Charskie Kinloch and Kai Griffiths, WV, def. Garrett Vance and Vaughn Koreis, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3; Stephen Cox/Kai Griffiths, WV. def., Josh Vanda/Kade Greenburg, 0-6, 6-3 (10-2 match tie-breaker)
Girls singles: Hannah Millford, WV, def. Gabby Strode, 6-0, 6-1; Joanna Shieh, WV, def. Erin Manly, 6-4, 6-3; Rhea Shety, WV, def. Cora Burndel, 6-2, 6-3; Macy Robbinson, WV, def. Brianna Geja 6-1, 6-1 Girls doubles: Lexi Mason/Lauren Miketa, WV, def. Shamra Roylance/Sidney Robison, 6-0, 6-2; Michelle Ridd/Shuah Rubright, WV, def. Caitlyn Loyd/Sara Mengist, 6-0, 6-1; Hailey Hall/Mitali Kumar, WV, def. KIm Kassner/McKena Lougherbreck, 6-0, 6-2