Game, set, champs

In the race to state, it was a pair of Fallon’s best who came out on top.

Debra Beyer and Kali Strong captured the Northern Division I-A girls doubles title after a hard-fought match.

The Lady Wave duo bested top-seeded Natalie Allen and Catherine Baghdikian of South Tahoe, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, to earn the North’s No. 1 seed for the DI-A state tournament on Friday in Reno.

“We knew what to do,” Beyer said. “We played our best.”

Adding to the success, though, was another pair of Fallon’s doubles teams as Melanie Nuckolls and Izzy Martinez took third ,and the boys tandem of Tyler Wood and Martin Beyer placed fourth. On the singles side, Adam Wadsworth placed fourth behind a trio of South Tahoe players.

Debra Beyer and Strong entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and made quick work of their opponents. They only lost two games in their first three matches, but were pushed to their limits in the regional final.

“It was just like let’s do this,” Strong said. “We’ve beat them before so let’s do it one more time. It felt so good.”

Nuckolls and Martinez, meanwhile, were the fourth seed and won by default in their opening-round match. They slipped earned a tough 7-5, 6-2 in in the quarterfinals before losing to Allen and Baghdikian 6-3, 6-2.

In the third-place match, however, Nuckolls and Martinez rolled past Truckee’s Emmy Downing and Annie Guerra 6-2, 6-0.

“I felt good coming in because we do well together,” Martinez said. “I didn’t think we would get third.”

Wood and Martin Beyer earned their third consecutive trip to state with a pair of wins. The Fallon duo opened with a bye, then won their first match 6-0, 6-4, before running into the Incline buzzsaw of Miles Primm and Cole Steinberg, losing 6-0, 6-1.

Wood and Beyer fell in the third-place match 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-4, to Truckee’s Brandon Flora and Eli Yale.

“We’ve improved since last year,” Wood said.

The Lady Wave’s third doubles team of Haley Lindsay and Kayla Bekiares won their first match by default, but fell to Allen and Baghdikian in three sets 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2.

Wadsworth, meanwhile, was the 12th seed and fought off Truckee’s Zach Yamauchi 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(2) to advance. Wadsworth cruised in his next match 6-0, 6-4, but fell to Adam Jarrett 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinal.

In the third-place match, Wadsworth was nipped by South Tahoe’s Hawley Jarrett 7-5, 6-3. South Tahoe’s Louis Marin won the title over Adam Jarrett 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4.

“I played really well the first day … and the second day I played some long matches and was kind of worn out,” Wadsworth said.

Fallon’s other singles players, Joseph Jamison lost to teammate Jumel Villacarlos 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Jamieson then lost to Hawley Jarrett 6-3, 6-4.

As for the Lady Wave singles players, Sarah Inglis won her first match over Truckee’s Anna Keith 6-2, 6-7(2), 6-2, but was dropped by Anne Schrage of Incline 6-2, 6-1.

Lindsay Golding rounded out the Lady Wave contigent with a 6-1, 6-2 loss to Incline’s Allison Tong in the first round.