Photo By Raymundo Frasquillo: Pima’s No. 1 Andrew Taylor left Morenci with the Roughriders lone singles win. The Graham County team left Greenlee County with a 7-2 loss March 13.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – Since opening the season with a 6-3 win over Willcox on March 1, Morenci’s tennis boys (4-2) lost 0-9 at Thatcher March 5 and 1-8 at Safford March 6; and prevailed in Morenci 8-1 over Tombstone March 9 and 7-2 over both Duncan March 12 and Pima March 13.
The Wildcats travel to Benson March 20, to Pima March 22, to Thatcher for a 2-day tourney March 23-24, and to Willcox March 27 before hosting Safford March 29.
“We’re about where we need to be at this point in the season,” Coach Brenda Street said.
The Wildcats are 20-16 in singles and 8-10 in doubles through six duels.
In singles, No. 1 junior Matthew Garcia is 2-4, No. 2 junior Tanner Hudman and No. 3 junior Andrew Vigil each 3-3, No. 4 senior Luis Tejada and No. 6 sophomore Shaun Espinosa both 4-2, No. 5 junior Ryan Williams 4-1, and junior Seth Rodgers 0-1.
In doubles, No. 1 Garcia – Hudman is 1-5, No. 2 Vigil – Tejada 3-3, No. 3 Espinosa – Rodgers 2-1, Williams – Espinoza 1-1, and Williams – Rodgers 1-0.
Wildcats – 7, Pima – 2
The Wildcats won 5-of-6 singles and 2-of-3 doubles from the Roughriders.
Hudman won a tie-breaker 15-13 over Jeb Schysm after splitting sets, losing the first 3-6 and winning the second 7-5. Four other Wildcats recorded 2-set wins singles, Vigil (8-6, 6-3) over Mac Talley, Tejada (6-1, 6-4) over Daniel Medim, Williams (6-0, 6-2) over Hunter Cluff, and Espinoza (6-1 twice) over Levi Thygerson.
In doubles, Vigil – Tejada slipped past Talley – Medim 10-8 and Williams – Espinoza topped Cluff – Thygerson 10-1.
Pima’s wins were by Andrew Taylor (0-6, 2-6) over Garcia in singles and Taylor – Schysm (10-6) over Garcia – Hudman in doubles.
Wildcats – 7, Duncan – 2
The Wildcats went 5-1 in singles and 2-1 in doubles against Duncan.
It was Garcia 10-3 over Nate Rapier, Vigil 10-6 over Chase Carnes, Tejada 10-7 over Lucas Basteen, Williams 10-2 over Braden Basteen, and Espinoza 10-1 over Jay Garner in singles.
In doubles, Garcia – Hudman prevailed 8-2 over Rapier – Lucas Basteen and Williams – Espinoza 8-1 over Carnes – Garner.
Duncan’s wins were 10-5 by Nathan Kempton over Hudman in singles and Kempton – Braden Basteen 8-6 over Vigil – Tejada in doubles.
Wildcats – 8, Tombstone – 1
Morenci won all six singles pairings and 2-3 doubles against Tombstone.
Garcia and Hudman both scored 10-7 over Nathan Snider and Bobby Phillips, respectively; Vigil and Williams 10-0 over James Bastian and Dean Lephey, respectively; Tejada 10-2 over Simon Bastian, and Espinoza 10-1 over Max Olivas.
In doubles, Vigil – Tejada and Williams – Rodgers posted identical 8-1 scores over Bastian – Bastiannand Lephey – Olivas, respectively.
Tombstone’s win was in the No. 1 doubles, Snider and Phillips 9-7 over Garcia – Hudman.
Safford – 8, Wildcats – 1
Morenci’s lone win was in the No. 3 doubles, Espinoza – Rodgers 10-8 in a tie-breaker over Llamas – Sipes following a 10-10 deadlock.
Safford won all six singles, A.J. Camarena (2-6, 3-6 over Garcia), Montierth (4-6, 6-4, 3-6 over Hudman), Henry (4-6, 3-6 over Vigil), Crohn (3-6, 1-6 over Tejada), Llamas (1-6, 7-7 / 4-7 over Espinoza), and Sipes (0-6, 2-6 over Rodgers).
The doubles wins were by Camarena – Montierth (10-6 over Garcia – Hudman) and by Henry – Crohn (10-3 over Vigil – Tejada).
Thatcher – 9, Wildcats – 0
The Eagles swept the Wildcats in Thatcher, winning the six singles and three doubles pairings.
In singles, it was Amon Hatch (4-6, 3-6 over Garcia), Tyler Bierman (4-6, 1-6 over Hudman), Brandon Udall (0-6, 1-6 over Vigil), Michael Greer (1-6, 2-6 over Tejada), Aaron Hatch (2-6, 1-6 over Williams), and Talon Brown (1-6, 0-6 over Espinoza).
The doubles wins were by Bierman – Greer (10-4 over Garcia – Hudman), Udall – Aaron Hatch (10-5 over Vigil – Tejada), and Amon Hatch – Brown (2-10 over Williams – Espinoza).
