Twists, Turns Unkind To Mead

State AAA tennis

Mead’s goal of a boys State AAA tennis title took a nasty twist Friday.

A nasty twist that greatly benefited Mercer Island.

Mead’s Ryan Moran, seeded third in boys singles, withdrew from the tournament after severely turning his ankle in a quarterfinal against Mercer Island’s Daniel Corey.

Moran won the first set 6-3 and led the second when he went for an overhead smash. Moran won the point, but landed awkwardly on his ankle. “We wanted to explore all the options after that,” said Mead coach Bill Wagstaff.

“We weren’t going to default until we were backed into the corner.”

Moran’s parents took the junior to a minor emergency clinic after the right ankle continued to swell.

Cory’s unexpected win gave Mercer Island four spots in today’s semifinals - two in singles and two in doubles.

Mead has a chance to knock down the fourth-seeded Mercer doubles team of Seth Greenberg and Jamee Wong. Mead’s Tory Gambill and Brett Kaiser, seeded No. 2, won all four of their sets during a pair of wins at the Yakima Tennis Club.

Gambill/Kaiser beat Sehome’s Dave Presley/Mike Goodman 6-2, 6-2 and Sammamish’s Jason King/Albert Lu 6-3, 6-3.

“They can tend to be an up-and-down team, and both sets (against King/Lu) they ended up getting broken at the start,” Wagstaff said of his left-handed duo. “Most times at this level that’s a dangerous thing.”

Yet freshman Gambill and senior Kaiser stormed back.

So did another area boys doubles team, Josh Dyck/Nick Mays of Ferris. Dyck/Mays opened with a 6-3, 6-1 upset of No. 3 Adrian VanDooren/Nick Vickstrom of Bellarmine Prep, then lost to Mountain View’s Eisen dela Cruz and Jason Tippetts 6-3, 6-3.

Facing elimination, Dyck/Mays beat Presley/Goodman 6-1, 6- 3. They’ll play Wenatchee’s Reid Wiggins/Ryan Parsons to open today. Ferris’ Darcy Ruemping, in girls singles, went 1-2 and was eliminated. Ruemping defeated Kentwood’s Bridget Wagner 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 in her middle match. Richland’s Lyndsey Nott ousted Ruemping 6-3, 6-2.

All seeded boys and girls singles players made the semis except Moran.

, DataTimes