Tennis players have tough week in first home matches of season

Tennis players have tough week in first home matches of season

Sept 1, 2001

Senior Billy Innis, the top singles player for the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys tennis team, makes a nice return during action against Grand Junction High recently at the Parque de Vida Tennis Courts. The Panthers are already in the middle of their fall season. The team is being coached this year by Jim Harkendorff.

STAFF REPORT

It was a tough weekend of play for the Montezuma-Cortez High School boys tennis team in games played against Grand Junction High and Central of Grand Junction at the Parque de Vida Tennis Courts.

In the first home match of the 2001 season, the Tigers came in and mauled the Panthers by a team score of 7-0. They played better and lost 2-5 to Central the next day.

"All of the singles and doubles teams played hard but couldn’t match the consistency of Grand Junction," first-year head coach Jim Harkendorff said.

Top singles player Billy Innis of MCHS took on Ryan Fante of Grand Junction and lost 0-6, 1-6. Fante had a tremendous serve. Fonte also returned nearly every shot Innis made. Several unforced errors hurt Innis. Cortez no. 2 singles Jeff Anderson lost 1-6, 0-6 to Daniel Findlay. Anderson made several nice returns but generally struggled. No. 3 singles Troy Tanner played a good game but fell to Tiger Jason Dominguez 2-6, 1-6.

The no. 1 doubles duo of David Wilcken-Devin Perkins lost in straight identical sets 1-6, 1-6 to Junction’s Mike Pacini and Elias Bacha. No. 2 doubles Sean Carey and Seth Hollar of Cortez fared a little better but still lost 2-6, 1-6 of Lars Irion and Brandon Gregg. No. 3 doubles Noah Rauscher and Mark Sturdevant were bageled by Adam Meininger and Jimmy Coleman. The Panthers were forced to forfeit their no. 4 doubles match.

Cortez had to forfeit no. 2 singles and no. 4 doubles to Central of Grand Junction last Saturday morning, Aug. 25. That meant MCHS would have to win four of the next five matches if they were going to win the team score.

Innis got things going in the right direction by carving up his opponent at no. 1 singles. He won the first set 6-0 but had to hold off a late charge in the second, winning 6-4.

"He totally owned the court," Harkendorff remarked.

Octavio Vargas, who played his first career singles match, beat Troy Tanner 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles.

"Tanner ran into a buzz saw. His Central opponent couldn’t seem to miss many shots," he said.

Central’s Rob Beunk and Brett Krueger were reunited at No. 1 after playing with different partners Friday at Durango and beat the Cortez team of Wilcken-Perkins by scores of 2-6, 4-6. Harkendorff said they really battled hard in the second set.

"They made a gallant comeback to have a chance to tie the set. But they couldn’t convert their serves and the let the match slip," Harkendorff reported.

The last match of the day turned out to be the best at no. 2 doubles. Carey-Hollar allowed Central to eek out a victory in the third set tiebreaker.

"The match, with its many momentum changes, obviously could have gone either way," he said.

Josh Henson and Josh Sharp teamed up for the first time and rallied to win 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to beat Carey-Hollar.

The Panthers visited Grand Junction High Friday afternoon and will play Central of Grand Junction at 10 a.m. today, Sept. 1. They will take a little time off before making another trip to Grand Junction to participate in the tough Western Slope Tournament Sept. 14-15.