‘Real tough draws,’ PHS girls 7th, boys 11th at state tennis tournament

Posted 10/7/14

The Powell boys finished 11th, scoring 11.5 points. Laramie claimed the title with 51 points and the Campbell County boys joined their female partners with a close second, scoring 48 points.

PHS head coach Ray Bieber said it came down to tough …

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‘Real tough draws,’ PHS girls 7th, boys 11th at state tennis tournament

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GILLETTE — The Powell High School tennis season came to an end at the Class 3A State Tennis Tournament last weekend.

The Lady Panthers claimed seventh with 15 points. Central edged Campbell County 52-47 for the team title.

The Powell boys finished 11th, scoring 11.5 points. Laramie claimed the title with 51 points and the Campbell County boys joined their female partners with a close second, scoring 48 points.

PHS head coach Ray Bieber said it came down to tough draws and close matches going against Powell.

“We had some real good performances from the girls,” Bieber said Sunday.

Powell’s No. 1 girls singles player, senior Cydney Barrus, fell 6-1, 6-2 to Madison Hinshaw of Campbell County High School.

But she rallied to post a dominant win over Fallyn Richmond of Riverton, 6-0, 6-0, before falling to Julianne Soler of Natrona County High School 6-1, 6-4.

“That was really good for her,” Bieber said, noting that she did not win a match at regionals.

No. 2 player Laura Bright won her opening match 6-1, 6-2 over Gretchen Baldwin of Rock Springs. But the senior fell to Jaclyn Soler of NCHS 6-2, 6-1 in the next match. She then topped Emily Zavorka of Torrington 6-1, 6-2 in consolation play before losing to Karlie Rambo of Jackson Hole 6-2, 6-4.

Bright doubled her win total from regional play, Bieber noted.

“That was a real big step up for her,” he said. “So we were real proud of her.”

The Lady Panthers’ No. 1 doubles team, seniors Josie Brinkerhoff and Rachel Anderson, easily handled Jordan Mecca and Megan Scott of Laramie 6-2, 6-2 before losing to Lydia Gallup and Lilly Lower of NCHS 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.

They defeated Shianne Schuele and Echo Martinez of Rawlins 6-3, 6-2, defeated Annalee Bailey and Sammy Hamilton of Sheridan 6-3, 7-6 (3) and topped Claire French and Kristina French of Jackson Hole 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the consolation final.

They fell 6-3, 6-4 to Newman and Baldwin of Rock Springs, meaning the Lady Panther team went 3-2 at state.

“They had as good a tournament as anyone on our team,” Bieber said. “They played very well.”

The No. 2 duo, seniors Aimee Kawano and Kelsi Barrus, claimed a pair of wins, defeating Calle Carlson and Clarissa Lyle of Cheyenne East 6-1, 6-0 and then easing past Sydney Hill and Abigail Mitchell of Torrington 6-3, 6-4.

But they fell 7-5, 6-1 to Sydney Sallee and Grace Gordon of Campbell County and then lost 7-5, 6-3 to Jordan Jennings and Mariah Spearman of NCHS.

“They had a really close match,” Bieber said. “They lost to a real tough team from Natrona County who eventually won the consolation title.”

The teams that defeated them finished second and third in the tourney.

The No. 3 singles team of junior Madi Morrow and freshman Hattie Pimental also won twice, defeating Jessica Makin and Linh Nguyen of Riverton 6-1, 6-1 and Amy Franklin and Breanne Taylor of Rawlins 6-3, 6-0. But then they fell 7-5, 7-5 to Abby Toscana and Shae Suchor of Campbell County before rallying to defeat Yanni Saucedo and Jade Palmer-Miller of Torrington 6-3, forfeit, to advance to the consolation title game, where they fell 7-6 (0), 6-2 to Cox and Gallup of NCHS.

The PHS team went into the tourney undefeated, he noted, and played two teams it had defeated during the season. The loss to Gillette was a very close match, Bieber said.

“They were 15-2 for the year,” he said. “They’ll be back. They need to move up and take the place of some of our graduating seniors. It will be interesting to see what happens.”

Cody Akin, Powell’s No. 1 boy player, won his first match, defeating Taten Knight of Green River 7-6 (2) and 6-4. The junior fell in a close match in the next round to Robin Drummond of Laramie, however, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

In consolation round play, he topped Adam Berry of Sheridan 7-6 (6) 6-4 before falling 7-5, 4-6, 6-2 to Dawson Miessler of Campbell County.

“Cody had the unbelievably tough bracket,” Bieber said. “He started out with a win against the Green River kid. And then he played the fourth seed from the other side.”

But that fourth seed, Drummond, had recovered from injuries that hampered his play during the season and went on to win the state title.

“It was a very, very tough match,” Bieber said. “That was the closest match he had in the tourney.”

Akin’s loss in the consolation bracket was to Miessler, who was also a very strong player who slipped into the consolation bracket and went on to win that title.

“It was very bad luck, bad draw,” Bieber said. “Cody lost to the No. 1 and No. 3 players. With a little luck, he could have won either one.”

PHS’s No. 2 singles player, senior Sterling Cozzens, lost 6-0, 6-1 to Alex Corbin from Cheyenne East and ended his season with a 6-2, 6-3 loss to Lencho Beltran of Cheyenne South High School.

Cozzens “had a tough draw, too,” his coach said.

The No. 1 doubles team of seniors Matt Brown and Jeffrey Pool fell 6-4, 6-4 to Peter Frank and Charles Fuller Ross of Jackson Hole but then defeated Sam Rosevich and Jake Pierce of NCHS 6-3, 6-3 in consolation play. They fell in the next match, however, 6-2, 6-2 to Aaron Loken and John Froelicher of Cheyenne East.

They played a close match in their opening round, Bieber said. “They played really well,” he said.

The No. 2 doubles team, junior Kristian Stenlund and sophomore Blaze Flores, fell in the consolation finals and finished fourth.

They received a first-round bye and moved ahead with a thrilling 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (5) win over Josh Gilmore and Ryland Sauter of Jackson Hole in the next round.

They then lost a semifinal match to Cole Alexander and Benson Nguyen of Rock Springs 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. They moved into consolation play and eased past Ethan Applegate and Tucker Bower of Kelly Walsh High School 6-1, 6-2. They fell 6-2, 6-4 in a rematch with Gilmore and Sauter in the consolation final.

It was the fourth time the teams had met this season; the PHS duo had won the first three times.

“It’s difficult to defeat someone four times in a season,” Bieber said.

Juniors Dallin North and Miles Rumbolz, the No. 3 doubles team, handled Andrew Halverson and Ian Evert of Green River 6-4, 7-5 but then lost to Jack Van Holland and Marshall Pomeroy of Jackson Hole 6-7 (8), 6-2, 6-2. They fell to Chase Bergeson and Brayton Tolman of Torrington 6-4, 6-7 (2) and 6-4 to conclude their season.

The coach said the boys played well throughout the three-day event.

“I think we had some real tough draws, and I think they competed really well and hard,” Bieber said. “We were really not that far out of the top four, which was our goal. I think they competed as hard as they could. With a better draw and a little bit of luck, we would have done better.”

PHS loses three senior boys and five senior girls, Bieber noted.

“We’re really going to miss the seniors on that team,” he said. “They’re great workers. They care about each other and the sport.”

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