Carson boys tennis beats Douglas

It's not often that a coach pulls his top players from a contest in a rivalry when he still has a precarious lead.

But that's what Carson coach Pat Houlihan did in Tuesday's boys tennis match against Douglas at CHS in a Sierra League opener. Carson was leading 8-4 after two rounds and it could have easily been 6-6.

Even though he still needed two points to win, Houlihan pulled his No. 1 doubles team, Brad Cobler and Jordan Rogers, so he could allow two seniors, Tommy Dudley and Jordan Miller to play in their final match against Douglas.

Dudley and Miller rewarded their coach's confidence in them by winning 6-1 in the final round as Carson went on to beat Douglas 12-6.

"We have a lot of great kids," Houlihan said. "I want to develop the kids and tell them I appreciate them.

"Why would I not have someone enjoy the game of tennis? And they (Dudley and Miller) came in and won 6-1, which was nice."

Carson was able to overcome Douglas High's two top singles players, Robert Shawhan and Keagan Chipp, with the strength of its doubles. While Shawhan and Chipp swept their three matches to provide for the Tigers' six points, the Senators swept all nine doubles matches and were also able to win the other three singles matches.

"They're two top players are good," said Houlihan about Shawhan and Chipp. "Our doubles is what won it. Our doubles showed their strength."

The match also swung on two singles matches in the first two rounds. Tom Hollenbreck/Pringle was able to pull out a 6-4 win over Spike Neri in the first round and Ben Henningsen beat Neri 7-6, (7-2) in the second round. That enabled Carson to take an 8-4 lead into the final round and prevented Douglas from possible forcing a 6-6 tie going into the final round.

"Those two actually could have gone either way," Douglas coach Mike McLaughlin said. "We got a pleasant surprise from Spike. He acquitted himself well.

"The strategy was to get lucky in doubles. Carson always has great doubles. We were satisfied with how we played. A couple of breaks could have made it tighter."

Shawhan swept 6-0, 6-3, 6-1 and Chipp won 6-3, 6-0, 6-2. In doubles, Alex Wing and Tyler Wing also had a key 6-4 win over Andrwe Solomon and John McLaughlin in the second round for Carson. Spencer Trapp and James Pelz also overcame a 2-3 deficit to beat McLaughlin and Solomon 6-4 for Carson.

Rogers and Cobler won 6-2, 6-1 and Jon Kane and Ricky Nyguen won 6-2, 6-1 for Carson. In singles, Spencer Brinson won 6-1.

Houlihan said the wins by Hollenbreck-Pringle, Henningsen and Brinson gave his team some breathing room. "That's three points in singles," he said.

DOUGLAS GIRLS 13, CARSON 5

The Tigers won eight of nine singles matches to take control of the contest at Douglas. Amelia Ritger and Sam Burns swept their matches and Ces Ceglia won twice for Douglas.

For Carson, Joanna Xie and Jena Greenburg won twice, 6-4, 6-4 and Alyssa Corda and Breanna Collings won twice 6-4, 6-4 in doubles for Carson. Hanna Shaw gave Carson its other win 6-3 in singles. Shaw also played well in a 4-6 loss to Burns.