Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Carson High School freshman Spencer Brinson plays at Centennial Park Thursday afternoon.
Twenty-six players.
That's how many players Carson High boys tennis coach Pat Houlihan got onto the court in the Senators 15-3 Sierra League win over North Valleys on Thursday at Centennial Park.
Houlihan liked what he saw. "There's a lot of people coming out and wanting to contribute and that's what I like about it," he said. "I'm happy with what I see."
But more than likely, Houlihan won't be able to use 26 players on Tuesday in a key Sierra League match at South Tahoe, which figures to be the first real test of the year for Carson (4-0, 3-0).
"South Tahoe is a big match," Houlihan said. "We're looking forward to it. We'll see what happens."
Against North Valleys, Spencer Brinson won both of his singles matches, overcoming a 4-5 deficit to beat the Panthers' No. 1 player 7-5 and winning 6-1. Evan Thayer also won his one match 7-6 (7-3), Ryan Dwyer won his only match 6-4 and Derek Turoff won his one match 6-2.
Freshman Kyle Stone had an impressive win in the final round. He was serving for the match at 6-5, 40-30, but was forced into a tiebreaker. He overcame a 2-5 deficit in the tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5). Gordon Lee also played well, losing to North Valley's No. 1 player 3-6.
Carson swept the doubles with Bryt Lewis and Nathaniel Hamer winning 6-2, 6-1, Chris Wear and Nick Smallman winning 6-2, Brad Cobler and Grant Jeppson winning 6-2, Josh Caron and Adam Houghton winning 6-1, 6-1, Thomas Dudley and Ian Gentner winning 6-2 and Victor Pineda and John Kane winning 6-3.
In other matches, Jordan Rogers and Alex Wing won 6-0 in doubles and in singles, Travis Trethan won 6-0, Dan Neiman won 6-2, Spencer Trapp won 6-1 and James Pelz won 6-4.