Photo By Raymundo Frasquillo: Morenci junior Matthew Garcia focuses on returning the ball.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
MORENCI – Morenci’s tennis boys fell 4-5 in Benson March 20 and in Pima March 22 plus ended seventh of eight teams during the Thatcher 2-day tourney March 24.
The Wildcats were in Willcox on Tuesday, March 27 and will host Safford on Thursday, March 29.
Morenci is 31-27 in singles and 8-10 in doubles through eight duels plus a tourney.
In singles, No. 1 junior Matthew Garcia is 5-8, No. 2 junior Tanner Hudman 6-7, and No. 3 junior Andrew Vigil both 4-4, No. 4 senior Luis Tejada 6-2, No. 5 junior Ryan Williams and No. 6 sophomore Shaun Espinosa both 5-2, and both junior Seth Rodgers and Jonathan Lake 0-1.
In doubles, No. 1 Garcia – Hudman is 1-8, No. 2 Vigil – Tejada 6-7, No. 3 Espinosa – Rodgers 2-1, Williams – Espinoza 4-4, and both Williams – Rodgers and Williams – Lake 1-0.
Thatcher Tourney
Morenci’s entrants each posted 2-3 individual records during the two singles and two doubles matches played against five opponents. Garcia and Hudman were in singles plus Vigil – Tejada and Williams – Espinoza in doubles. A tie-breaker prompted Garcia and Hudman to team up for a deciding doubles’ match on the second day.
A cross pairing of No. 3 with No. 4 in the other pool, Miami, ended deadlocked 2-2, requiring a tie-breaking match. Garcia and Hudman succumbed 11-9 for a 3-2 loss. Morenci was paired with Pima, a 4-0 loser to Miami. The Wildcats posted a 4-0 shutout of the Roughriders to finish seventh.
The Wildcats went 0-4 against both the New Mexico Silver High Fighting Colts and the Thatcher Eagles plus blanked the Pima Roughriders 4-0 in pool play on the first day.
Results for Pool A were Silver 3-0, Thatcher 2-1, Morenci 1-2, and Pima 0-3 while Pool B had Douglas 3-0, Safford 2-1, Benson 1-2, and Miami 0-3.
Pima – 5, Wildcats – 4
The teams each won three singles pairings, but Pima took two doubles to win the match.
Morenci’s wins were by Vigil (6-1 twice over Mac Talley), Tejada (7-5, 8-6 over Niklas Reider), and Espinoza (6-4, 7-6 over Chris Rodriguez) in singles plus Williams – Espinoza (8-0 over Reider – Rodriguez) in doubles.
Pima’s wins were by Andrew Taylor (6-1, 6-0 over Garcia), Jeb Schysm (6-2, 6-0 over Hudman), and a 10-8 tie-breaker by Daniel Medlin (7-5, 3-6 over Williams) in singles plus Taylor – Schysm (8-6 over Garcia – Hudman) and Talley – Medlin (8-5 over Vigil – Tejada) in doubles.
Benson – 5, Wildcats – 4
The Wildcats won two singles and two doubles pairings against the Bobcats.
Morenci’s wins were by Tejada (6-3 twice over Ralph Grassi) and Williams (6-2, 6-3 over Cole Masey) in singles plus Vigil – Tejada (8-6 over Tristan Barker – Grassi) and Williams – Lake (over Masey – Nathan Norris) in doubles.
Benson’s wins were by Jordan Merrill (6-0 twice over Garcia), Joe Lutz in an 11-9 tie-breaker (0-6, 6-3 over Hudman), Barker (6-1, 6-0 over Vigil), and Norris (8-5 over Lake) in singles plus Merrill – Lutz (8-0 over Garcia – Hudman) in doubles.
