Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Nathan Kempton backhands a return during his singles pairing with Morenci. The Duncan sophomore ended 3-9 in singles and in doubles.Pima rallied to beat Duncan 5-4 in the regular season finale April 16.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
PIMA – Duncan fell 5-4 to the Roughriders in Pima to close out the regular season April 16.
Additionally, the Wildkats succumbed 4-5 at Safford on April 2 and 3-6 at Morenci on April 9 before posting a 6-3 home win over Willcox on April 11 in boys’ tennis section matches.
The Wildkats (1-11 seeding, 1-11 section) were 18-54 in singles and 11-25 in doubles, including nine forfeits, four singles (1-3) and five doubles (1-4).
Individually in head-to-head singles matches, No. 4 senior Wesley Conyer is 8-4, No. 1 sophomore Nathan Kempton 3-9, No. 2 senior Nate Rapier 2-10, No. 3 junior Lucas Basteen 3-9, No. 5 senior Jay Garner 0-9, and No. 6 senior Weston Skinner 1-10.
In doubles, No. 1 Kempton – Basteen is 3-9, No. 2 Rapier – Conyer 5-7, and No. 3 Skinner – Garner 3-7.
Roughriders – 5, Wildkats – 4
A full team did not necessarily translate into a win for the Wildkats. The earlier duel had Duncan with no one in the No. 6 slot, resulting in two forfeits, one each in singles and doubles.
The teams split in singles but Pima won two of three doubles pairings.
Duncan’s wins were by Kempton (6-3, 6-7, 7-4 over senior Jeb Schysm), Basteen (6-4 twice over sophomore Keanu Hansen), Conyer (10-5 tie-breaker over sophomore Jake Beals, won 6-1, lost 6-4), and Rapier – Conyer (8-2 over Hansen – Beals).
For Pima, senior Daniel Medlin (6-1, 6-3 over Rapier), sophomore Dallin Preston (6-4, 6-1 over Garner), and sophomore Hunter Cluff (6-1, 6-0 over Skinner) had singles wins.
In doubles, Schysm – Medlin (8-5 over Kempton – Basteen) and Beals – Preston (8-4 over Garner – Skinner) prevailed.
Wildkats – 6, Cowboys – 3
The initial duel triumph of the season came via four singles and two doubles wins.
This time, Kempton (6-3, 6-2 over Edward Vega) and Basteen (7-5, 6-4 over Jeremy Nieto) notched singles victories over the Cowboys.
Additionally, Rapier (6-1 twice over Marcus Barba) and Conyer (6-1, 6-0 over Ryan McClaine) in singles plus 8-3 doubles wins by Kempton – Basteen (over Vega – Barba) and Rapier – Conyer (over Nieto – McClaine), cemented the meet outcome.
For Willcox, sophomore Luke Labbe (6-0, 6-2 over Garner), junior Fabian Rodriguez (7-5, 6-0 over Skinner), and the Labbe – Rodriguez duo (8-2 over Garner – Skinner) accounted for the Cowboys’ team scoring.
Wildcats – 6, Wildkats – 3
Duncan had wins of 11-10 via a 10-5 tie-breaker by Kempton (over senior Tanner Hudman) and 11-9 by Conyer (over senior Seth Rodgers).
Morenci got singles wins by senior Andrew Vigil (10-4 over Rapier), senior Ryan Williams (10-2 over Basteen), senior Mario Garcia (10-5 over Garner), and junior Shaun Espinoza (10-0 over Skinner),
In doubles, Hudman – Vigil (10-3 over Kempton – Basteen), Rodgers – Garcia (10-8 over Rapier – Conyer), and Williams – Espinoza (10-0 over Skinner – Garner) posted wins.
Bulldogs – 5, Wildkats – 4
Conyer’s 8-5 singles win over sophomore Emanuel Torres prevented a Bulldogs’ shutout.
Senior Andrew Smith (8-4 over Kempton), senior Epoch Fry (8-2 over Rapier), junior Issac Camarena (9-7 over Basteen), sophomore Grant Smith (8-5 over Garner), sophomore Jacob Curtis (8-2 over Skinner) had the singles wins.
In doubles, Andrew Smith – Fry (8-5 over Kempton – Basteen), Camarena – Torres (8-5 over Rapier – Conyer), and Grant Smith – Curtis (received forfeit) posted wins.
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