Boys finish fifth, girls 10th at state

In many ways, it was a perfect year for us. We did the very best we could. We showed up in every match, we competed,” Powell High School head tennis coach Ray Bieber said. “Never had a better group of kids.”

The Powell High School tennis teams played well at the Thursday-Saturday state tournament in Gillette — with PHS boys No. 1 singles player Cody Akin emerging as Wyoming’s high school champion. It’s only the second time that a Powell boy has earned the state singles title.

The Powell boys finished just a handful of points out of second place as a team, but “we played really well, so I can’t complain,” Bieber said.

The Panther boys finished fifth among 16 high schools, putting up 27 points. Gillette won with 42 points.

The Lady Panthers — led by a fourth-place finish from No. 2 doubles players Tessa Eller and Lauren Asher — finished in 10th place with nine points. Cheyenne Central won the girls event with 59 points.

Noting that the girls’ top two players played at the bottom of the varsity lineup a year ago, “we had an unbelievable season,” Bieber said.

The coach called it a “dream season” for Akin.

“He did everything for the right reason — had the right motivation for everything,” Bieber said, adding, “You couldn’t have asked for it to happen to a better person.”

A year ago, Akin entered the state tournament undefeated, but left without a trophy. He said that experience “kind of lit a fire under me.”

“Last year, I played for myself. I played for my own personal glory ... and I think this year I was doing it more for Ray (Bieber), for the town, for my school and for my family and then myself,” Akin said.

Akin said he let other people and God help him this year.

“I wasn’t playing on my own,” he said.

The PHS senior could not have had a more difficult route to the title, beating the runner-up and the third, fourth and fifth-place finishers who were all from typically Class 4A schools. (There are no classes in tennis.)

Akin won his first match 6-3, 6-4 over Joe Froelicher of Cheyenne East and then a “dogfight” over Laramie’s Dalton Bainer, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.

In the semi-finals, Akin faced Dawson Miessler of Gillette.

Akin took the first set 6-4, but Miessler swept the second, 6-0. Akin then jumped out to a 5-0, 40-love lead in the third set, but “I got anxious, I lost my focus and he (Miessler) won four games in a row.”

“It was crazy; pretty much almost gave Bieber a heart attack,” he laughed.

Before the match, Akin’s mother had told him he needed to have fun, and at that point, “I actually physically smiled — even though I was very frustrated,” he said.

He smiled and prevailed, 6-4.

Matched up with Chase Anderson of Cheyenne Central in finals, Akin took the first set 6-3. When he got up 5-4 and 40-love in the second, Akin remembered what he’d learned from the battle with Miessler.

“I just took care of business,” Akin said. “I just played my game and I finished it right there.”

He said the match was perhaps even closer than the score reflected.

“I guess maybe I wanted it a little bit more,” he said.

Outside of Toby Laird in 1997, Akin is the only Powell boy to win a state singles title.

As for the PHS boys’ No. 2 singles player, Kristian Stenlund beat Ryan Roybal of Rawlins 6-0, 6-2, before losing 6-4, 6-2 to Matt Moran of Laramie. Stenlund then beat Cooper Thompson of Cody, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and — avenging an early season loss — Kelby Kramer of Rock Springs, 6-3, 6-2. The PHS senior was ultimately eliminated by third-place finisher Hunter Kuhn of Natrona County, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.

“Can’t ask for a better performance than that. He had a wonderful state — just unbelievable,” Bieber said of Stenlund.

Akin also praised Stenlund, crediting his competition as a hitting partner as helping him to the title.

“He pushed me every day in practice. There was never a day I could slack off,” Akin said.

At No. 1 doubles, Rhett Pimentel and James Sheets began with a 6-1, 6-0 win over Rawlins before losing 6-0, 6-4 to the fourth-place finishers from Laramie.

In the consolation bracket, Pimentel and Sheets beat Rock Springs 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Sheridan 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. They ultimately lost 6-4, 6-3 to Gillette, the third-place finishers.

After making the jump from the junior varsity squad last year to No. 1 doubles this year, “They won three matches at state — that’s unheard of,” Bieber said.

At No. 2 doubles, seniors Dallin North and Miles Rumbolz began with a 7-5, 7-6(5) win over Laramie. They then lost 6-3, 6-3 to the eventual champions from Green River and 6-2, 6-1 to Cheyenne East.

No. 3 doubles players Tanner Barngrover and Aaron Jacobsen beat Laramie in their opening match 6-3, 6-4, then lost 6-2, 6-1 to the champions from Jackson. Barngrover and Jacobsen beat Cheyenne Central 6-3, 6-1 and Sheridan 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 before losing 7-5, 6-1 to the third-place finishers from Green River.

“I don’t know what they were doing, but that was crazy how well they did,” Bieber said, noting that Barngrover and Jacobsen had only won two matches heading into state. “That was just fantastic play.”

For the PHS girls, No. 1 singles player Madi Morrow lost 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Bethany Christensen of Rock Springs. In the third set, trailing 5-4 with the score tied at 30-all, Morrow hustled to a ball and — although Christensen didn’t call it — volunteered that the ball had double-bounced before she hit it, Bieber said.

“You’d rather have your integrity than the match,” Bieber said, adding, “All the coaches saw it and that was kind of the talk of the tournament for a while there.”

In a tough draw, Morrow then lost 6-1, 6-2 to Lilly Lower of Natrona County.

Hattie Pimentel, the girls No. 2 singles player, reeled off two straight wins to reach the semi-finals, beating Jade Palmer-Miller of Torrington (2-6, 6-3, 6-1) and Emily Applegate of Casper’s Kelly Walsh (6-4, 6-4). She was then beaten 6-4, 6-0 by runner-up Lea Bergman of Laramie and fourth-place finisher Zoe Baldwin of Rock Springs, 7-5, 6-1.

Bieber said Hattie Pimentel “had a great tournament.”

At No. 1 doubles, Keegan McLain and Maria Kissner lost 6-3, 6-3 to Torrington, before prevailing 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-4 over Rawlins.

“That was very exciting,” said Bieber. “They played really tough.”

McLain and Kissner then lost 6-3, 6-3 to Laramie.

Eller and Asher, the No. 2 doubles players, trumped Torrington 6-0, 6-2 and Kelly Walsh 7-5, 6-2 to reach the semis, where they lost to the eventual champions from Cheyenne Central 6-4, 6-2. In the consolation bracket, Eller and Asher beat Rock Springs before being edged 7-6 (0), 1-6, 6-1 by Jackson to finish in fourth.

At No. 3 doubles, Jen Bonander and Kaylee Meyer were edged 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 by Kelly Walsh in their opening match. In the consolation bracket, they beat Torrington 6-1, 6-2 and Jackson 6-3, 6-2.

Bonander and Meyer then lost to the third-place finishers from Sheridan, 6-2, 7-5.