Mavs prepare for district play after tough end to regular season
CALEB PEREZ | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 6 months AGO
Jacob Duval, a senior from the Mavericks, holds up his bracket results after a successful weekend at the Inland Empire Tournament April 25. Duval will partner up with fellow senior Ollie Madsen for doubles in the district tournament
COURTESY PHOTO/MARK THOMPSON/MLHS ATHLETICS
Mavs player Kamaile Bruce readies for the serve during a previous match this season. Bruce will be playing in girls singles at the district tournament.
Moses Lake’s Sam Molitor smacks the ball back over the net in a prior home meet. Molitor will play in boys singles at districts.
River Spees from MLHS prepares for her opponent’s serve in a home match earlier in the season. Spees is playing in girls singles for the district tournament.
MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Mavericks boys and girls teams finished out the regular season with a tough schedule as they went from the Inland Empire Tournament to three back-to-back meets against competitive league rivals. The Mavs now prepare for the postseason as 12 players head to the district tournament Saturday.
“I think they’re feeling well,” said Mavs Head Coach Mark Thompson. “They are looking ahead to districts and what we’re going to do there.”
The Mavs had a strong outing at Inland April 24-25 with Moses Lake finishing 17 out of 57 teams. The top Mavs performer was boys number two singles player Jacob Duvall who fell in the first round against the number one seed, Joseph Hemry, who won the tournament. Duvall went on to win all of his matches throughout the consolation bracket.
“They were guaranteed (to play two matches); we had a few that played three and four matches, but Jacob was the only one that made it through to the second day,” said Thompson. “I saw some really good things from a number of our different groups.”
MLHS got back into league play the following Tuesday for their final home meet of the season against Eisenhower.
The boys earned a solid 5-2 team victory with the help of wins coming in first singles as Sam Molitor went 6-2, 6-0 and first doubles as Jacob Duvall and Ollie Madsen went 6-2, 6-0.The girls fell 1-6 during the matchup with the lone victory coming in third doubles from Elizabeth Katyukha and Annabella Sales winning 6-2, 6-0.
Moses Lake went on the road the next day for a makeup match against West Valley. The opposition proved dominant as the boys fell 1-6 with the sole victory coming from Weston Hill 6-2, 6-3, and the girls fell 0-7.
The final regular season against Eastmont continued to test the Mavericks as they worked to finish strong before postseason play.
The Mavs boys team earned a 6-1 victory over Eastmont with close matches for Weston Hill in second singles, winning 7-6(6), 6-4, Brayden Thacker in fourth singles winning 4-6, 6-2, 10-3 and the team of Emmett Sisney and Rysik Chavez winning their match 6-3, 6-3.
For the girls, Eastmont was a strong force and the Mavs fell 0-7.
With regular season play ending April 30, the Mavs had just over a week to prepare their six boys and six girls for the district tournament.
Entering districts for the boys are Sam Molitor and Weston Hill for singles. Jacob Duval and Ollie Madsen along with Ian Duvall and Thomas Bowen will be playing in boys doubles.
On the girls side, Kamaile Bruce and River Spees will play singles. Desirae Cantu and Ariana Martinez along with Kinsey Thomas and Lilly Pate are playing doubles.
The Mavs begin the first round of districts at West Valley High School Saturday at 9 a.m. Those who win will return to West Valley Monday to play again at 9 a.m.
Mavs player Kamaile Bruce readies for the serve during a previous match this season. Bruce will be playing in girls singles at the district tournament.
Moses Lake’s Sam Molitor smacks the ball back over the net in a prior home meet. Molitor will play in boys singles at districts.
River Spees from MLHS prepares for her opponent’s serve in a home match earlier in the season. Spees is playing in girls singles for the district tournament.ARTICLES BY CALEB PEREZ
Mavs claim District 5 swim and dive title
MOSES LAKE — The series of successful meets this season fully paid off for the Moses Lake Mavericks girls swim team over the weekend as the girls claimed the District 5 title. By the end of Saturday, the Mavs won the district meet with a score of 466 to Wenatchee's 449. "Just as we expected with Wenatchee, it was close all the way to the end. Could have gone either way, but it went our way," said Mavs Head Coach Tony Preston. "The girls were super excited to get their district championship."
Tigers qualify both boys and girls teams to state
EPHRATA — The Ephrata Tigers Cross Country team continued their successful season in the District 5 and 6 Championships Saturday afternoon. Both the boys and girls had strong races to qualify for state with the boys taking third and the girls taking second. Tigers Head Coach Lyndsy Roberts said because of their high ranking all season the girls team set their sights high on the district meet. Heading into Saturday, they knew their toughest challenge would be against Ellensburg, who has been ranked second in the state all season.
Knights battle into district championships
ROYAL CITY — The second seeded Royal Knights (16-2-1) battled in a tight matchup against the third seeded Naches Valley Saturday afternoon in the district semifinals. Both teams put forward a strong effort, with the Knights securing a 1-0 victory. "We were all putting our heart out in this game and trying our best because we have a really good team this year," said Knights junior Sofia Villafana. "We were just giving it our all." The tone of the game was set from the very start as Royal and Naches Valley went back and forth on their attack. While the Knights controlled the ball for most of the first half, Naches Valley's defense kept things in check.