Carson boys tennis clinches third seed, beats South Tahoe

Appeal Staff Report

The Carson High School boys tennis team found itself in an unexpected position at the end of the second round and was able to take advantage of the situation.

In the battle for third place in the Sierra League, the Senators took an 11-1 lead to clinch the win after two rounds as Carson went on to beat South Tahoe 12-6 on Thursday at CHS.

Carson clinched the No. 3 seed heading into the Northern 4A Regional playoffs and will travel to face the High Desert League's No. 2 seed on Tuesday. If the Senators can win that first round match, they'll likely be heading for another showdown with Galena in the semifinals. Carson was able to give Galena all it could handle in a 12-6 loss in which many of the matches went down to the wire.

That was the difference for Carson against South Tahoe as the Senators won many close matches. Carson already had a 9-1 lead and needed to win one of the two remaining doubles matches in the second round to clinch the win.

Jordan Rogers and Tyler Simms had beaten South Tahoe's No. 1 team 6-2 in the first round, but struggled in the second round, falling behind 2-5. But they came back to win the match 7-6 (7-4) to clinch the win for the Senators.

At about the same moment, Matt McDaniel and Thomas Hollenbeck-Pringle beat the Vikings' No. 1 team 7-5 for good measure to give Carson an 11-1 lead.

"I certainly didn't expect that," said Senators coach Kevin Fallon about beating the Vikings after two rounds. "(South Tahoe) is a very fine team."

In singles for Carson, Spencer Brinson rolled to two wins 6-1, 6-1, Adam Whitt won both of his matches 6-4, 6-3 and Gordon Lee won 7-5. McDaniel and Hollenbeck-Pringle won their other match 6-0 and Ricky Nguyen and Jon Kane won both of their matches 6-0, 6-3 in doubles for Carson.

Fallon substituted for all of his starters in the third round and Spencer Brinson came away with Carson's only win in the final round, winning 7-6 (7-4) in singles.

"My starting guys were able to turn around some close matches and pull them out," Fallon said. "I'm seeing the maturity when matches get tight. They just kept their composure."

CHS GIRLS 10, SOUTH TAHOE 9

The third time was the charm for Carson as it pulled off the upset at South Tahoe in a tiebreaker. But the Senators likely had to settle for that victory as it likely wasn't enough to put them in the playoffs.

Carson finished Sierra League play at 5-3 while the Vikings finished second at 6-2. If Manogue won its last match against Wooster as expected on Thursday, it would have also finished 5-3 and tied Carson for fourth. Manogue would have then earned the No. 4 and last seed into the playoffs based on its head-to-head win over the Senators.

In that match, Manogue beat Carson 4-2 in six seven-point tiebreakers after the teams tied 9-9 in regulation. The Senators also lost to Douglas on points after tying 3-3 in tiebreakers after the two teams battled to a 9-9 tie.

But this time against South Tahoe, the Senators were able to beat the Vikings 4-2 in the tiebreakers after the teams battled to a 9-9 tie. The difference came when Emily Collins won 7-5. Tiffany Moore also won 7-1, Hannah Shaw and Alyssa Corda won 7-3 and Ali Collier and Bridjett Huish won 7-4.

In regulation, Collins won 6-4, Shaw and Corda won 6-2, 6-2, Collier and Huish won 7-6, 6-2, 7-5, Elise Hansen and Hannah Dudley won 7-6, 6-2 and Moore won 6-2.

GALENA GIRLS 18,

DAMONTE RANCH 0

In singles for Galena, Mica Olson won 6-0, 6-0, 6-0, Hailey Llop won 6-0, 6-0, 6-1 and Hannah Llop won 6-0, 6-0, 6-0. In doubles for Galena, Lindy Deller and Adie Potter won 6-1, 6-0, Leann Roggensack and Emily McClintock won 6-0, 6-0, Ellen Ferguson and Alex Darling won 6-2, 6-0, Courtney Morse and Cathryn Hanson won 6-0, Kylee Joseph and Olivia Mason won 6-0 and Annie Roach and Kelsey Rummler won 6-0.