It's not like the Carson High boys tennis team didn't want to face the best players that Douglas had. But the Senators aren't going to apologize, either.
Carson took advantage of Douglas missing its top two players on Tuesday and went on to a 29-16 win over the Tigers at Centennial Park. With the win the Senators put itself in a position to finish strong in the Sierra League standings and the zone playoffs.
The match figured to be evenly match, but that changed when the Tigers were without their top two singles players, No. 1 Josh Sorich and No. 2 Gabe Groben, who were both out with injuries.
"They're about the same," said Carson coach Pat Houlihan when comparing his team to Douglas. "That's a good win."
Houlihan acknowledged Douglas was hurt without its top two players, particularly Sorich. "That makes the difference because he's a good player," Houlihan said.
The difference of the match essentially came in the first round when Carson won two tiebreakers that opened up a 12-3 lead. Chris Wear was able to beat Trevor Mitchell 7-6 (7-4) in singles and Jeff Van Epps and Ryan Dwyer were able to beat Sean Mitchell and Matt Whipple 7-6 (7-3) in doubles. "They were big," Houlihan said. "That kind of separated things."
Josh Caron was able to sweep in singles for Carson, winning 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 and Wear also won his other match 6-1. In addition, Devon Anderson won 6-0 and Adam Hougton won 6-4 in singles.
In doubles, Bryt Lewis and Johnny Kim won 6-4, 6-1, Tyler Lewis and Nathanial Hamer won 6-0 and Todd Crowell and Nick Smallman won 6-2.
Douglas was led by Holden Sapp and Jeremy Henningsen in doubles as they swept 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
"They're getting better and better," Douglas coach George Sorich said. "They play together well."
Also for Douglas, Sean Mitchell and Whipple won 6-3 in doubles, Matt Mitchell won 6-2 and Matt McLaughlin beat Anderson 6-4 in singles.
"If my No. 1 was here it would have been a one or two point match, which is fun," coach Sorich said.
"This is a good program," Sorich also said about Carson. "Pat's doing a good job here. He's got a lot of kids and he's learning well."
In other matches for Carson, Tyler Wing won 6-0 and James Pelz won 6-0 in singles and Tom Dudley and Ryan Zaro won 6-3, Ian Gentner and Ben Henningsen won 6-3, Grant Jeppson and Jordan Miller won 6-1 and Wheeler Cowperthwaite and Evan Thayer won 6-0 in doubles.
CARSON GIRLS 27, DOUGLAS 18
The Carson High girls tennis team used strong play in doubles to overcome two of Northern Nevada's top singles players in Melissa Oglesby and Nikki Villoria to beat the Tigers.
Amber Whitworth and Greta Schnaser swept their matches, winning 6-1, 6-1, 6-3. Shannon Arnold and Shanni Eng beat the Tigers' Mandy Moore and Christina Wilson-Louch 6-4 and Simone Kuckenmeister and Amy Milholland won 6-0 and lost to Christina Milner and Trish Salazar of Douglas in a tiebreaker 6-7 (4-7). Kuckenmeister also teamed with Hilary Schlager for a 6-2 win and Liz and Amanda Gohr won 6-1 in doubles for the Senators.
In singles, Oglesby swept 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 and Villoria swept 6-0, 6-1, 6-3. Carson's Lisa Midboe played well in her 3-6 loss to Villoria. Midboe came back from 0-40 to win one game and led 3-2 before Villoria won the last four games.
Midboe won her other match 6-2. Also in singles for Carson, Kelsey Joyce won 6-2 and Michelle Van Epps won 6-0. Milner and Salazar also won 6-1 in doubles for Douglas.
"It was a good win," Carson coach Diane Roberts said. "They all played their hardest."
Carson's girls will host North Valleys at Centennial Park on Thursday and will host North Tahoe in a makeup match on Monday.
