Boys tennis: Hughes, Wiker claim Olympic League championsip

Thomas Hughes and Blake Wiker have been here before — district tournament qualifiers after running the gauntlet at the league tourney — but this time around they have top billing.

Hughes and Wiker swept through four matches without dropping a set at North Kitsap High School in Poulsbo Oct. 17-18, on their way to an Olympic League doubles title and the league’s No. 1 seed heading to the West Central District 2A tourney this week.

There, they will have some familiar company. Sequim teammates Damon Little and Liam Payne went 3-2 as a doubles duo and advance to districts. Raymond Lam also went 3-2 to take fourth place at league and advances to the district tourney in the singles bracket.

Hughes and Wiker, a perfect 7-0 as doubles partners heading into the league tourney, topped Mason Fisher and Jacob Stark of North Mason in the opening round, 6-2 and 6-1, before sweeping Bremerton’s Brett Blankenship and Nolan Myers, 6-0 and 6-0. In the semifinals, Hughes and Wiker edged Bo Bradow and Milo Whitman of Port Angeles, 6-4 and 6-3. In the final, the Sequim pair topped North Kitsap’s Logan Chmielewski and Jared Reister, 6-2 and 6-4.

After earning a straight sets victory to open the tourney, Little and Payne — 11-2 as a doubles team heading into the league tournament — needed three sets to knock off North Kitsap’s Aidan Adams and Ryan Singleton (6-2, 4-6, 6-0). After falling to NK’s Chmielewski and Reister in the semifinals, Little and Payne bounced back to beat Bremerton’s Blankenship and Myers, before finally falling to Port Angeles’ Bradow and Whitman in the consolation finals.

Lam, who earned a 9-5 mark as a singles player during the regular season this fall, topped Kingston’s Ryan Guedea 6-2, 6-0 and Chris Schuhart of North Kitsap, 6-3 and 6-2, before losing to Garrett Lawson of Bremerton in the semifinals. Lam beat Port Angeles’ Wyatt Hall in the consolation semifinals before falling 6-4, 6-0 to North Kitsap’s Sam Horn in the consolation finals.

Sequim’s Sam Frymyer went 0-2 in singles play, as did Nate Despain and Ryan Tolberd in doubles action.

Oct. 26-27: West Central District 2A tournament is set for Oct. 26-27 at Kitsap Tennis & Athletic Center in Bremerton. The top singles and doubles players move on to the state 2A tourney in Seattle, scheduled to coincide with the girls postseason in May.

Last season, Hughes and Wiker placed fourth at league and fifth at districts before winning one of three matches at the state tournament.