Outlaws post two wins on court

The boys tennis squad finished in a 4-4 tie with Mt. View on Wednesday, March 20, but Sisters prevailed and won the tiebreaker with a 9-8 advantage in sets. Last year the Cougars shut out the Outlaws 8-0.

Jed Kizziar (No. 1) blanked Will Lane 6-0 in the first set and took the win with a 6-4 victory in the second set.

“Jed just keeps being Jed; consistent, athletic, and a unique style of play that frustrates opponents,” said Coach Carl Click.

Nate Weber (No. 2) won his first match of the season with his victory over Desmond Garrott. Click told The Nugget that Weber made a huge improvement from his first two matches in serve accuracy. Click’s unofficial tally from Nate’s first set was better than 75 percent of success on first serves, including eight winners his opponent could not return.

Isaiah Chapen took control of his No. 3 singles match early, and beat Grant Burk 6-3, 6-4. Isaiah went down quickly in the second set, but battled back for the win. He kept the ball in play, and forced errors on the other side of the net.

Click stated that senior Keaton Green was a pleasant surprise at No. 4 singles. Green claimed a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ty Schiffman in his second-ever high school match.

“We saw some potential in Keaton his first match against Redmond a week ago,” said Click. “Today he outlasted a more experienced player for the win...He limited errors, and moved his opponent around the court with the precision of a much more experienced player.”

Although Sisters lost in all four doubles matches, Cole Seymour and Gavin Todd (No. 4) were able to post a close 7-5 first-set win, which made the difference in the team match.

“Todd played his first-ever varsity match and overcame a few jitters,” said Click. “Seymour is in his second year and has proven to be a reliable and versatile doubles player, often playing with different partners.”

Click told The Nugget that the win over Mt. View was very satisfying.

“As the smallest 4A school in Oregon it’s rewarding to be competitive with, and in this case defeat, a 6A school.”

Two days later Sisters defeated Ridgeview 7-0.

On Friday, the Outlaws defeated the Ravens 7-0, a huge switch from a year ago when Ridgeview won the dual match 7-1. In this match, Sisters proved to be the much more experienced team. Ridgeview is a 5A school, about twice the size of Sisters, but this year the Ravens’ roster includes many new and inexperienced players.

Weber took his match at No. 1 singles with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Ethan Hicks. A year ago, Nate beat Hicks, but in a very tight three-set match.

Kizziar got a bit of a scare at No. 2 singles, when he lost his first set 2-6 to Aaden Poindexter. Jed struggled with the strong wind, as did all the other players, but he eventually came around and won 6-4 in a close second set, and took the match in a 10-7 tiebreaker. He’s now 3-1 in singles matches.

Chapen dominated play and was perfect in his No. 3 match. He blanked Josh Paden 6-0, 6-0, and is now 3-1 in singles matches. Green beat Kroftan Nyman 6-1, 6-0 in the No. 4 spot, and is now 2-1 on the season.

Eli Gurney and Brogan Petterson cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory against their opponents, which was a big contrast to their outcome earlier in the week against Mt. View where they were clearly out-matched.

Drew Collins-Burke and Colton Seymour patched together a No. 2 doubles team and came out on top 6-2, 6-2, against Stancliff and Herrin.

JV players KJ Sweet and Gabriele Ambrosi stepped into a varsity role and recorded their first win with a 6-1, 6-4, victory at No. 4 doubles.