Cutthroat power on display at state
tennis
Third state championship in four years
By JEFF CORDES
Express Staff Writer
The team trophies ended up being
color-coded for The Community School and Wood River High School tennis teams
during last weekend’s State 3A tournament in Boise.
Tyler Martin, Community School junior, is the new State 3A boys’ singles
king. Express photo by David N. Seelig
Winning the blue championship trophy for
the third time in four years were coach Mark Scribner’s singles-strong Community
School Cutthroats, with a substantial 86-63 margin over the doubles-powerful
Parma Panthers.
Tyler Martin, Cutthroat junior who was
runner-up last year, won the boys’ singles championship Saturday while senior
Luke Fostvedt and freshman Mandy Alexander powered their way to the mixed
doubles title.
In the point breakdown, the Cutthroats
piled up 51 points in singles, virtually matching their total in last year’s
state runner-up finish, but what really elevated the blue-and-white to the state
championship was a hefty 35-9 improvement in doubles over 2003.
Coach Scribner said, "Boys’ and girls’
singles of course were very solid. Girls’ doubles did more than I expected, and
mixed doubles played very big for us. Every player we took to state had at least
one point.
"Luke played very, very well, the best
he’s played in four years. He controlled the whole court and Mandy played very
well with him. Overall, I thought our seniors Amy Alexander, Joanie Baumgardner
and Luke came through with a lot of big points."
Jackie Safran (left) and Devon Bunce, the new State 3A girls’ doubles
champions from Wood River. Express photo by Jeff Cordes
Settling for the green-colored third-place
trophy were coach John Radford’s Wood River Wolverines, who amassed 55 of their
60 points in doubles and crowned an unexpected girls’ doubles champion in their
#2 team of Jackie Safran and Devon Bunce.
The local tennis teams, sending 26 players
to state, also produced two state runner-up winners. Scooter Sabel, Cutthroat
sophomore, was the boys’ singles runner-up while Danny Gariepy and Whitney
DeBree of Wood River were second in mixed.
In all, the Cutthroats won 26 of their 38
matches in Boise Friday and Saturday and reinforced their standing as one of
Idaho’s prep tennis powers.
New champions
Tyler Martin joined his brother Chancey
Martin (1997) in the boys’ singles state championship circle. Six of the 14
Cutthroat state championships have now come in boys’ singles.
Playing very aggressively, Martin didn’t
lose a set in taking four match wins including his 6-2, 6-4 championship match
victory over sophomore teammate Sabel. Martin was a little more consistent and
forced uncharacteristic mistakes by district king Sabel.
In girls’ singles, nobody could shake the
resolve of two-time state champion Caity Jones of Homedale. The strong junior
also didn’t lose a set in four wins, although the powerful groundstrokes of Wood
River’s Hadley DeBree gave Jones a 7-5 scare.
Luke Fostvedt and Mandy Alexander of The Community School won the mixed
doubles title at the State 3A tennis tournament Saturday in Boise. Express
photo by Jeff Cordes
After being upset in the semi-finals by
Clark Fork freshman Rayna Allen, #2-seeded Cutthroat senior Amy Alexander
regrouped and nailed down third place with split-set triumphs over DeBree and
Declo senior Katie Wall.
Parma’s 1-2 sweep in boys’ doubles lifted
the Panthers into second place in the team standings. Wood River’s Dao Okamoto
and Thomas Phelan rallied 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 over a Homedale pair for the third-place
honor Saturday in rain-splattered Boise.
One other bright spot for the Cutthroats
was the play of Christian Cairncross and Wes Flanigan in boys’ doubles. They
didn’t place, but they won three matches and nearly knocked off eventual
champions Nick Padilla and Kyle Nielsen of Parma.
Padilla and Nielsen survived the scare
4-6, 6-1, 7-6.
In girls’ doubles, the power game of Wood
River’s #2 pair of sophomores Jackie Safran and Devon Bunce was well suited to
the state showcase. They won four matches and breezed 6-1, 6-4 in the
championship affair.
Joanie Baumgardner and McKenzie Hart, the
only Cutthroat entry in girls’ doubles, had a fine tournament and ended up in
fourth place. Meanwhile, the #2-seeded Wood River pair of Ellie France and Abby
Fairman won three times but fell short of a placing with losses to Payette and
Fruitland teams.
The only championship matching The
Community School and Wood River came in mixed doubles. The win of Fostvedt and
Alexander reversed the split-decision taken by Gariepy and Whitney DeBree at the
district meet.
For Fostvedt, it was a second state
championship in doubles. As a Cutthroat sophomore he won boys’ doubles with Joel
Evans back in 2002.
Check this week’s Express Web site for a
complete summary of last weekend’s 3A state tournament in Boise Here are top
finishers and team scores.
Boys’ singles
Championship—Tyler
Martin (CS) 6-2, 6-4 over Scooter Sabel (CS)
Third place—Brett
Hopkins (Homedale) 7-5, 6-3 over Travis Moss (Declo)
Girls’ singles
Championship—Caity
Jones (Homedale junior) 6-0, 6-1 over Rayna Allen (Clark Fork freshman)
Third place—Amy
Alexander (CS senior) 6-7, 6-2, 6-3 over Katie Wall (Declo senior)
Boys’ doubles
Championship—Nick
Padilla-Kyle Nielsen (Parma junior, senior) 7-6, 6-2 over Trent Weber-Jesse
Chaney (Parma sophomores)
Third place—Dao
Okamoto-Thomas Phelan (WR senior, freshman) 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 over Jeremy
Ensley-Josh Myers (Homedale sophomore, freshman)
Girls’ doubles
Championship—Jackie
Safran-Devon Bunce (WR sophomores) 6-1, 6-4 over Kristyn King-Kristi Soelberg
(Payette sophomore, junior)
Third place—Lauren
Surmeier-Carolyn Dees (Fruitland senior, junior) 6-0, 6-4 over McKenzie Hart-Joanie
Baumgardner (CS sophomore, senior)
Mixed doubles
Championship—Luke
Fostvedt-Mandy Alexander (CS senior, freshman) 6-1, 6-4 over Danny Gariepy-Whitney
DeBree (WR senior, freshman)
Third place—Scott
Weber-Emily Watson (Parma seniors) 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 over Eric Olsen-Ashley Peterson
(Declo junior, senior)
Final 3A team standings
1—Community
School (14 state qualifiers) 86 points (36 BS, 15 GS, 5 BD, 9 GD, 21 MD). 2—Parma
(15) 63 points (4 BS, 1 GS, 36 BD, 6 GD, 16 MD). 3—Wood River (12) 60
points (0 BS, 5 GS, 15 BD, 24 GD, 16 MD). 4—Homedale (9) 47 points (12
BS, 20 GS, 9 BD, 0 GD, 6 MD).
5—Declo (6) 27 points. 6 (tie)—Fruitland
(8) and Clark Fork (6) 21 points apiece. 8—Payette (6) 19 points. 9 (tie)—Troy
(10) and Weiser (10) with 6 points apiece. 11—Grangeville (13) 5 points.
12—Gooding (7) 4 points. 13—Sugar-Salem (1) 3 points. 14 (tie)—Culdesac (5) and
Deary (2) with 2 points apiece. 16—Post Falls Christian (1) 1 point.
Point breakdown
86—Community School (26-12 all
matches)—51 points singles (13-4), 35 points doubles (13-8)
60—Wood River (21-10 all
matches)—5 points singles (4-4), 55 points doubles (17-6)