Boys tennis: Young Wolves continue to impress

A 2-1 week shows continued develoment

By Conor Dowley • October 16, 2019 1:30 am
Sophomore Connor Bear, pictured during a Sept. 26 match against North Kingston, impressed with a 2-1 personal record over the past week. Bear is one of the players that head coach Mark Textor has praised several times this season for his continued and significant development. Sequim Gazette photo by Conor Dowley
Sophomore Connor Bear, pictured during a Sept. 26 match against North Kingston, impressed with a 2-1 personal record over the past week. Bear is one of the players that head coach Mark Textor has praised several times this season for his continued and significant development. Sequim Gazette photo by Conor Dowley

Olympic League standings

(as of Oct. 15)

Team Lg.

Port Angeles 11-2

North Kitsap 10-0*

Bremerton 10-3

Klahowya 8-4

Sequim 7-5

Kingston 3-9

Olympic 3-11

North Mason 2-9

Chimacum 0-11*

*Standings incomplete as results for a North Kitsap-Chimacum meet on Oct. 14 had not been posted at press time

The Wolves continued a season of exceeding expectations with a 2-1 week, with solid showing in their loss to Bremerton, who sit in third place in the Olympic League.

The Wolves beat Kingston 6-1 on Oct. 9 and North Mason 7-0 on Oct. 14, while losing 5-1 to Bremerton on Oct. 10. One doubles match in the Bremerton meet had to be abandoned due to darkness. Sequim’s no. 3 doubles team of Dallin Despain and Jackson VanDewege had won their first set 7-6 and were leading the second 4-1 when the match was called off.

Nico Zingaro had the Wolves’ lone match win against Bremerton, needing three sets to get past Garret Lawson. Zingaro didn’t drop a single game against Kingston, winning both sets against Ryan Guedea 6-0, but was unavailable against North Mason after suffering an injury away from the court.

“(Nico) is going to warm up (Tuesday) to see if he can go,” head coach Mark Textor said the morning of the Wolves’ Oct. 15 meet against Klahowya. Zingaro’s availability for the meet had not been determined by press time.

Fortunately, senior Ryan Tolberd stepped into the No. 1 singles spot against North Mason on Monday without missing a beat, winning his match 6-0, 6-1 on a day that saw the Wolves sweep the Bulldogs. Sequim dropped just one set in the match, with fill-in No. 3 singles player Dallin Despain losing his first singles set of the season before coming back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-2.

Sophomore Connor Bear also had a strong week after being praised by Textor several times this season, with straight set wins in his matches against Kingston’s Garret McDaniel and North Mason’s Nathan Hipple, and forcing a set tiebreaker before falling to Bremerton’s Marco Tang.

Looking ahead

The Wolves hosted a rescheduled match against Klahowya on Oct. 15. Results were not available at press time.

The team then travels to undefeated North Kitsap on Oct. 16, then on Oct. 17 heads down to face Olympic. They then face last-place Chimacum on the road on Oct. 21 before preparing for the Olympic League Tennis Championships on Oct. 24 and 25 at Central Kitsap High School.