MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks boys and girls tennis teams both earned team wins in their matches against Eastmont Tuesday afternoon. 

“It was fun, they’re a very nice team,” said Mavs’ Carsen Owens, who played third singles for the boys. “I was just trying to stay calm and focus on the point." 

The boys won 7-0 against Eastmont with their closest matches coming from their third doubles team, where Evan Duong and Ollie Madsen won 7-4, 6-2, and in first and third singles, where Sam Molitor won 6-3,6-0 and Owens won 6-4, 6-2. 

“He’s a brick wall I kept hitting against,” Molitor said about his opponent Isaac Anderton of Eastmont. “We both had some good serves ... a lot of fun rags, going right up to the net playing pickleball.” 

The girls earned a 4-3 victory, winning all three doubles matches and Elise Miles winning in the second singles match. 

“I think we started pretty strong and then we kind of lost it in the second one,” said Kalei Bruce of the Mavs’ girls first doubles team. “But we’re pretty good working together with communication, so we just stuck with it and finished it off.” 

“I think we balance each other out,” said Bruce’s doubles partner Kiley Thomas. “She’s really good in the back and I’m really good at the net.” 

Mavs’ tennis coaches Jay Dickenson and Mark Thompson were pleased with the team’s performance. Dickenson highlighted the boys' performance as they won all seven of their matches. 

“They played solid all day long,” said Dickenson. “I think even though it was seven-zero, we learned a lot and got better.” 

Moses Lake had quite the battle on the girls’ side with a number of split matches that led to tie breakers and having very close second sets on three different matches, said Thompson. 

“They were a pretty good team, we knew that coming into it and we matched up pretty well with them,” said Thompson. “They were really battling it out today and they came ahead with a four-three win.” 

The match that sealed victory for the Mavs girls was the third doubles with Selah Loomis and Kamaile Bruce. Their match against Eastmont’s Isla Chapman and Makenna Bennett went on for three sets where in the tiebreaker both teams battled for deuce multiple times before the Mavs secured the victory, said Thompson. 

“We had some girls missing today so we had to fill a few spots and the girls that had to fill the spots did really well for us,” he said. 

To prepare their teams for close games, the coaches make sure that the players are mentally prepared and use their mantra, “Trust your training,” to keep them motivated in tough matchups. They’ve also been putting a focus on setting goals and mindfulness during both practice and in matches, said Thompson. 

“It’s tough to bounce back from winning a set, then losing the next one and then regrouping,” said Dickenson. “I thought overall our girls did a really good job of doing that, especially that number three doubles, they really regrouped and got mentally focused back in.” 

The Mavs tennis team has a long week ahead of them as they play Sunnyside tonight and go on a road trip double header Saturday, playing first against Davis and against Eisenhower immediately following. Dickenson said as coaches, they will just have to make sure the team is able to keep focus since they have only a short amount of time for practice between matches. 

To combat the mental strain that might come from the heavy schedule, the coaches might do some shuffling around to have players in different positions. The coaches said they are less worried about players becoming physically exhausted than they are about the players losing their mental fortitude. 

“We have two solid teams (with) a lot of seniors and veteran players on both teams,” said Dickenson.  

The Mavs play at home to face Sunnyside today at 3 p.m. and will play two matches on the road Saturday, against AC Davis at 10 a.m. and against Eisenhower at 2 p.m. 

    Sam Molitor played a strong match against his Eastmont opponent and came out victorious.
  

    Kalei Bruce of the Mavs’ girls first doubles team said she and her partner Kiley Thomas are successful because they balance out each other's skills.
  

    Kiley Thomas said she and Kalei Bruce figure out their game plan during the first couple points of their match, so they know what they need to change as they play.
  

    Evan Duong (back) and Ollie Madsen (front) made up the third doubles team for the Mavs and won their match 6-4, 6-2.
  

    The third doubles team of Selah Loomis and Kamile Bruce secured victory for the girls after a long rally.
  

    Selah Loomis and Kamile Bruce went into a tiebreaker set against Eastmont’s Isla Chapman and Makenna Bennett where they battled to deuce multiple times as both schools cheered on their teammates.
  

    Colin Stanberry returns a serve in the boys fourth singles match.