Raymundo Frasquillo Photo/Gila Herald: Senior Shaun Espinoza is Morenci’s lone returnee. Morenci heads to Pima for the Roughriders’ season opener Thursday, March 5.
By Raymundo Frasquillo
PIMA – Morenci returns a lone varsity experienced member for its 2020 boys’ roster. Senior Shaun Espinoza is back but in the No. 2 slot. He was 8-5 in the No. 6 slot and 10-2 with two different partners in doubles.
The rest of the roster has No. 1 junior Nicholas Zegarra, No. 3 junior Israel Bernal-Diaz, No. 4 sophomore Corbin Wilson III, and No. 5 freshman Andrew Castillo.
The Wildcats (0-2), with losses of 0-9 to the Bobcats in Benson Feb. 27 and 3-6 to the Safford Bulldogs in Morenci March 3, head to Pima for the Roughriders’ season opener Thursday, March 5.
Currently, the Wildcats are 2-10 in singles and 1-5 in doubles, including two forfeits each in the No. 6 singles and the No. 3 doubles slots.
In singles, Zegarra is 1-1, Espinoza 1-1, Bernal-Diaz 0-2, Wilson 0-2, and Castillo 0-2. The Zegarra – Espinoza duo is 1-1 and Diaz – Wilson 0-2.
Other Division III – Section I pairing this week include Benson (2-0) at Duncan (0-2) March 5 and Pima at Willcox (0-1) Friday, March 6.
Benson also defeated the Cowboys 8-1 in Willcox Feb. 27 and was scheduled to host the Cowboys March 3; Thatcher (2-0) has a pair of 9-0 road wins over Safford (March 2) and Duncan (March 3), and Safford (2-1) opened the season with a 6-3 home win over Duncan (Feb. 26).
Safford – 6, Morenci – 3
Morenci won three pairings, two singles and a doubles over the visitors.
The singles wins were 6-3 and 6-4 by Zegarra over senior Isaac Camarena (0-3) and 7-5 twice by Espinoza over junior Emanuel Torres (0-3).
Safford had 2-1 junior Grant Smith (6-1, 6-0 over Diaz), 2-1 junior Jacob Curtis (6-1, 8-6 over Wilson), 2-1 senior Nathan Moore (7-5, 5-7, 10-3 over Castillo), and 2-1 freshman Doyle Cluff with a forfeit win in singles.
Morenci’s doubles win was 8-2 by Zegarra – Espinoza over Torres – Smith (0-3).
For the Bulldogs, Camarena – Curtis (2-1) downed Diaz – Wilson 8-3 and Moore – Cluff (2-1) received a forfeit win in doubles.
Benson – 9, Morenci – 0
The six Bobcats swept the Wildcats, winning all nine pairings, six singles and three doubles matches.
Each of the head-to-head singles pairing scores were 8-0, by junior Jordan Merrill over Zegarra, senior Joseph Lutz over Espinoza, junior Cole Masey over Diaz, junior Camden Waite over Wilson, and junior Liam Galloway-Sprietsma over Castillo. Freshman Scott Lutz received a forfeit win.
In doubles, it was Merrill – Massey 8-2 over Zegarra – Espinoza, and Lutz – Waite 8-0 over Diaz – Wilson. The Sprietsma – Scott Lutz duo received a forfeit win.
