Wood River High School tennis had another exciting day of showing its opponents who owned the courts.
The Wolverines (4-0 dual matches, 2-0 league) handled host Twin Falls 11-1 Tuesday—the Hailey boys winning 5-1 and the girls sweeping 6-0 in breezy Twin.
Wood River senior Lauren Reutter said, "Our team learned to play with the wind and came home with a win."
Coach Vicki Johnston said, "The players made a few adjustments and stuck with their game plan. Our goal was all about confidence and playing to win. We are learning to play higher percentage tennis and forcing the opponent to make the error.
"I am so impressed with the team's focus this year. We have one of the deepest teams I have coached and every player is fighting hard for a spot on varsity."
"Player of Day" was senior Ellen Davis playing #1 girls singles. She was one of the first matches on and one of the last matches off. Davis defeated Carly Athay 6-3, 6-7, 6-4.
Johnston said, "Each point consisted of at least 10-15 ball rallies and amazing patience. The girls split sets. Ellen was down 0-3 in the third set, she wasn't feeling her best and it was looking like the match was over.
"Ellen decided she would not give up and took control of her situation. She won the next four games and finished the set winning 6-4. I call that determination!"
Wood River boys' singles Karl Wilander, Raleigh Grossbaum and Jordan Niedrich won in straight sets. So did the other girls' singles players, Sloan Storey and Morgan Jones. The Wolverines swept singles.
The #2 boys' doubles team of Bryan Donoso and Josh Morell won a first-set tiebreaker and clinched their victory 6-2 in the third set.
Wood River hosted Burley Thursday and goes to Rupert Tuesday, April 13 to battle Minico. Results from Twin:
Wood River 11, Twin Falls 1
Boys' singles: #1—Karl Wilander (WR) 6-0, 6-0 over Dallas Hunt (TF). #2—Raleigh Grossbaum (WR) 6-3, 6-3 over Jeff Wand (TF). #3—Jordan Niedrich (WR) 6-1, 6-0 over Mike Zitterkopf (TF).
Girls' singles: #1—Ellen Davis (WR) 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 over Carly Athay (TF). #2—Sloan Storey (WR) 6-1, 6-2 over Brittani Pierce (TF). #3—Morgan Jones (WR) 6-3, 6-3 over Rachel Webster (TF).
Boys' doubles: #1—Andrew Bortz and Daniel Olsen (TF) 7-6, 6-1 over Brendan Freund and R.J. Forgeon (WR). #2—Bryan Donoso and Josh Morell (WR) 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 over Nathan Algate and Chris Slette (TF).
Girls' doubles: #1—Lauren Reutter and Margaret Reutter (WR) 7-5, 6-1 over Natalie White and Rarin Olsen (TF). #2—Lily Richards and Alex Feldman (WR) 6-2, 6-3 over Amber Martin and Hayley Hutchin (TF).
Mixed doubles: #1—Morgan Pike and Jessica Hamilton (WR) 6-0, 6-0 over Andrew Starley and Madison Bernheisel (TF). #2—Will Eagan and Hannah Baybutt (WR) 6-0, 6-0 over Ryan Algate and Kayla Ash (TF).
Tennis trips for Cutthroats
The Community School tennis team visited the Treasure Valley Saturday, April 3 and came away with 6-6 ties against two of that area's powerhouse 3A teams, defending champion Parma and last year's fifth-place 3A Fruitland. Sun Valley did particularly well in boys' singles and boys' doubles.
In boys' singles, #1 Hunter Weaver, #2 Tim Kanellitsas and #3 Eric Runkel won all their matches against Parma and Fruitland.
Also victorious twice were doubles teams Tanner Flanigan and Jamie Jameson, and Paul Davis and Jackson Bates.
Head coach Phil Huss said he was very happy with the play of his boys against Parma and Fruitland, noting it was a good harbinger for state tennis.
Emma Wilander and Ricki Eshman picked up #2 girls' singles wins last weekend.
Because the size of The Community School tennis team this year, 41 students, Huss sent a junior varsity team to eastern Idaho Wednesday for a conference match against Sugar-Salem. The Cutthroats prevailed 8-4, going 4-2 in singles and 4-2 in boys.
Zach Lindahl, Cassidy Carson, Maddie Caraluzzi and Kyla Jarrett were the singles winners. Also playing were Eli Albarran and Natalie Bunting.
Sweeping boys' doubles were Tom Crosby-Will Brokaw and Dylan Prescott-Gray Riedinger. The girls' doubles winners were Katie Dumke-Gina Rickling and Taylor Figge-Paige Riedinger.
Playing mixed doubles were Noah Koski-Ella Marks and Averell Tian-Daniela Stokes.
