The rains came Tuesday afternoon, Sept. 5, but it didn’t last long enough to wash away the boys tennis match between the Panthers and the Demons at Parque de Vida Tennis Courts. The Demons ended up washing away the Panthers 7-0.

Durango dominated the young Panthers who only have one senior on the squad this year.

Durango’s Adam Sanders had no problems beating no. 1 singles player J.C. Keetso 0-6, 0-6.

The best match of the day was between Durango’s Hadrian Muller and Billy Innis. The Panther jumped on Muller in the first set, winning 6-4. But Muller came back and won 0-6, 1-6. That was the only set win of the day for Cortez.

Durango’s Kurt Volger beat no. 3 singles Jeff Anderson 3-6, 2-6 in one of the better matches on the day.

In no. 1 doubles action, Gabriel Muller and Colin Spear stopped Cortez’ Gerald Keetso and Keegan Moore.

Durango’s Jesse Mattice and Lance Avery defeated Troy Tanner and Noah Rauscher 2-6, 0-6 at no. 2 doubles. In no. 3 doubles action, Ben Schler and Kevin Gates stopped Panthers David Wilcken and Devon Perkins 0-6, 0-6. Demons Pat Minot and Craig McCormack dropped no. 4 doubles players 0-6, 1-6 over Sean Carey and Chance Harrison.

The Panthers traveled to face Grand Junction High and Fruita-Monument on Sept. 1-2.

Grand Junction, which has a veteran team with nearly all returnees, was first up.

J.C. Keetso fell to Junction’s Nathan Bridges 0-6, 0-6. Bridges is a very strong player who has a very hard serve. Keetso put the ball back in the court but Bridges smashed it out of play, according to MCHS head coach Ricky Carver.

No. 2 singles saw Ryan Fante take on Innis with Fante winning 2-6, 0-6. Innis played a solid first game with many long baseline rallies. Mike Pacini faced Anderson in no. 3 singles. Anderson played a good mental game but physically he could never get going and lost 0-6, 0-6.

In no. 1 doubles action, GJHS’s Lars Irion and Michael Pacini (cousin to Mike) beat Gerald Keetso and Moore. The scores were 1-6, 1-6. Carver reported this team is starting to play well together.

Cortez’ Tanner and Rauscher faced Lucas Botinelli and Frank Born but lost 0-6, 0-6. Carver reported that Tanner and Rauscher hustled well despite the lopsided score. Wilcken-Perkins lost to Grand Junction’s Jeff Graham and David Kempf 1-6, 1-6. Carver said his players are beginning to come to the net and attack more. Carey-Harrison fell to Jimmy Coleman and Brandon Gregg and lost 0-6, 2-6.

"Overall against Junction, I thought the kids did okay. I know the scores don’t reflect that but they played pretty well considering Junction is a good Class 5A team. I don’t know why, but we will get up 40-15 a lot of times and then only to lose. We also seem to lose a lot of deuce games as well," Carver commented.

The Panthers took on Fruita the following morning. Carver said the Panthers actually looked better against Fruita (which beat Junction recently).

J.C. Keetso took on Richard Johnson and lost 0-6, 0-6.

"This was a good match! You say how can it be a good match zero and zero, but it was. J.C. played great. He made a lot of great points but just couldn’t put five together," Carver remarked.

Innis fell to Bryce Gartner 0-6, 3-6. Innis played much better in the second set. He played a good baseline game but stayed back a little too long a times. Innis started hitting the ball away in the second game. Anderson fell to Fruita’s Nathan Jewkes 1-6, 0-6. Anderson is not playing with a lot of confidence right now with his ground strokes, according to Carver.

In no. 1 doubles action, Gerald Keetso-Moore faced Mike Patton and Davram Fieler but lost 2-6, 2-6. The Panther duo won those games because they went to the net well. No. 2 doubles duo of Tanner-Rauscher battled Fruita’s Nathaniel Ross and Benny Shepherdson, losing 1-6, 0-6. Tanner-Rauscher did not play as well as some of the others on the day, according to Carver. Wilcken-Perkins lost to Nicky Rossi and Robbie Eiuly 0-6, 0-6. Carey-Harrison lost 2-6, 0-6 to Danny Carlson and Ben Kurtzman.

"Right now we are taking small steps. All I care about is that we continue to improve and keep focused on Regionals in a few more weeks," he added.

"We went into this weekend just looking for experience. Our goal is that we are trying to take one step at time this year. I think we are accomplishing that," Carver said.