Outlaws finish strong on tennis court

The boys tennis team hosted Stayton on Tuesday, April 27, and won three of their matches. Due to a short roster, Sisters defaulted five matches, and suffered a 3-5 team loss. On Friday, the Outlaws traveled to Woodburn for their final league match of the season.

In Tuesday’s action, Nate Weber continued his winning streak and persevered through a sore ankle to beat Hayden Holm 6-3, 6-1.

Sisters also won at No. 3 and No. 4 doubles. Coach Carl Click said that the inexperienced players showed their growth, each winning in a tight third-set tiebreaker.

Jaxon Barry and Dexter Payne (No. 3) beat their opponents 6-3, 5-7, 10-6. KJ Sweet and Matthew Riehle (No. 4) didn’t start well and lost their first set 0-6. They came back and won a tight second set 6-4, and then won the tiebreaker 10-8.

Click said, “Tiebreakers can be stressful for new tennis players as they are quite different from the regular 15-30-40 game scoring for regular games and sets. But, a practice session on exactly how to play and score a tiebreaker the day before the match paid off. Our kids were confident and organized, while their opponents were a bit out of sorts with the match on the line.”

The Outlaws traveled to Woodburn on Friday and won two of the three official matches. Sisters finished the regular season with just four players and, due to their low numbers, had to default on five matches.

Weber locked up the district 2nd seed with his 6-4, 6-3, victory over Jonathan Swenson. Nate has won all but one singles match this season.

Click said, “Swenson is one of the better singles players in the league, who can truly hit stroke- for-stroke with Nate. There were several really strong rallies won by both players. Nate made fewer errors than some other matches, which is a good trend with the district tournament approaching.”

Barry and Payne notched another huge win. They took down Issa Flores and Juan Alfaro in a 9-7 pro set. The match went back and forth as teams traded games. In the end, the Outlaws won the final three to claim the set.

“Their play gets better and better each match,” said Click. “Barry and Payne are both new to tennis competition and in just a few weeks they’ve improved enough to compete, and beat more experienced players by keeping the ball in play, adding some pace and spin, and putting away shots at the net.”

District No. 2 usually places four players into the 4A/3A/2A/1A state tournament; however in this unusual pandemic season, 4A schools will compete in their own season-ending event. Due to that fact, and because District No. 2 has nine 4A schools, the district will get eight entries into this modified state tournament.