Weber takes second at tennis districts

Nate Weber earned a second-place finish in the singles event of the OSAA Special District No. 2 tennis Tournament held at Black Butte Ranch, Monday, May 10, and Thursday and Friday, May 13 and 14.

Weber (No. 2 seed) got off to a great start on Monday with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Tag Grossnickle of Molalla, in the first round of play.

In Thursday’s action, Nate won both his singles matches, starting with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Carson Swift of Cascade in the morning round of 16. Coach Carl Click told The Nugget that Weber played his best tennis of the year in the quarterfinals to beat Andrew Leonard of Philomath 6-1, 6-0.

“Nate was the most patient he has been all year, looking for the right time to attack, and when he did, his placement and pace were too much for Leonard,” Click said. “Several times, Nate constructed perfect points where he moved the opponent around the court, and finished the point with well placed angle shots, instead of just banging away and out-muscling the other guy.”

Click added, “It’s fun to play with power, but it’s risky. Patient, accurate placement gets the job done with less flair, but it’s more consistent. It’s the tennis squad agent of the golf adage, ‘Drive for show, putt for dough.’”

In the semifinals on Friday Weber defeated Dawson Beckstead in three sets. Nate got a bit frazzled in the first set by some close line calls and lost 2-6. He settled down and came back with a 6-2, 6-0 win for the victory.

Click said that Nate really showed his heart in the match against Beckstead.

“Beckstead poses a difficult game where he will sometimes play slow balls with lots of spin, but he can also hit with power when he chooses to, so you never know what you’re going to get shot to shot. Nate figured it out, and showed he was the stronger singles player in the end.”

Weber advanced to the championship match, but lost 2-6, 2-6 to sophomore Zach Moore of Cascade for a second-place finish.

Weber’s only two losses of the year were against Moore, who is undefeated this year.

“The final score was slightly better than the first time the two met in April, but Weber was much more competitive this time around,” said Click. “The earlier match was just as Nate was finishing up football and he hadn’t been on the tennis court for much work.”

Three other Outlaws competed at districts.

Sophomore Matthew Riehle lost his opening round singles match on Monday. After falling down 2-0 to Marcus Muldrow of Madras, Matthew came back and won an 8-4 pro set.

On Thursday, Riehle was beaten by Estacada’s Trey Shibahara in the consolation round, which brought an end to his tournament play.

Jaxon Barry and Dexter Payne lost a doubles match to Estacada’s James Settje and Cristian Munoz 2-6, 3-6 on Monday. They received a bye in the first round of consolation, but then were eliminated when they lost 8-2 to Hurst and Durst of North Marion, a fifth-seeded team.

Weber finished 12-2 in singles, and returns to state competition for the second time.