Falcon boys tennis loses two close matches

South Whidbey boys tennis shook up its lineup and lost its second contest with Anacortes only two days after winning at home.

By Ben Watanabe • September 18, 2013 2:53 pm

South Whidbey boys tennis shook up its lineup and lost its second contest with Anacortes only two days after winning at home.

The Falcons won only three matches, while the Seahawks won four, including the top three singles and top doubles.

Anacortes, a 2A school in the Northwest Conference, relied on its heavy hitters like senior Jared Wigen to lead the way. Wigen won 6-1, 6-1 over Falcon junior Nathan Riley.

Falcon junior Trent Fallon lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 to Anacortes’ Hunter Wickman. Usually a doubles player, Falcon head coach Karyle Kramer moved Fallon to the singles lineup to test his abilities. His hits landed more often in the second set, an improvement from the quick games in the first set, she said.

South Whidbey claimed a three-set tiebreaker win in the third singles bout, thanks to Campbell Albertsen’s 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (10-8) victory over Anacortes’ Cooper Huntley. Albertsen saved three match points in the tiebreaker to win the match that lasted nearly 3 hours.

Beau Blakey won the fourth singles match 6-3, 6-1 against Keiran Saunders.

The Falcons had a shot at winning the overall match, had first doubles team Charley Stelling and Jonathan Peterson held the first set in a 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-4 loss. The juniors led Anacortes’ Kaleb Wigen and Kevin Xue 5-3 in the first set but lost their edge and the set in a tiebreaker.

Jack Hood and Andy Zisette lost the second doubles match to Anacortes’ Garrett Manion and Ben Bellusci, 6-4, 6-4.

South Whidbey won the third doubles bout with the combination of Austin Drake and John Cary, who defeated Anacortes’ Garrett Higgins and Derek Vance, 7-5, 6-2.

On Sept. 20, the Falcons fell to Seattle Academy 3-2, losing both singles matches and the top doubles match.

Hood returned to singles and lost 6-1, 6-1 to Will Owen. Albertsen lost the second singles match 6-2, 6-2 to Charlie Phelps.

In doubles, South Whidbey’s top team of Stelling and Peterson lost 6-3, 6-2 to Connor Rice and Sam Brickman. Fallon and Riley teamed up for second doubles to defeat Seattle Academy’s Richard Khang and George Campbell 1-6, 6-4, 10-6. Zisette and Blakey joined for the third doubles match and beat Academy’s Aidan Wood and Marius Revere 6-2, 6-2.