Clark, Palo Verde boys clinch region tennis titles

Las Vegas Review-Journal

6 years ago

Clark High singles player Rahul Gupte returns the ball against Coronado High’s Ethan Quandt during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Liberty High School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Clark High single player Max Foels returns the ball against Coronado High’s Sebastian Frace during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Liberty High School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Coronado High single player Ethan Quandt returns the ball against Clark’s High Rahul Gupte during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Liberty High School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Coronado High single player Sebastian Frace returns the ball against Clark’s High Max Foels during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Liberty High School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Clark’s High double players Simran Shah, left, and Mark Bernales shake hands after winning their first game against Coronado High’s Akhil Mohan and Colin Peltier during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Liberty High School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Coronado High double player Scott Hobbs, left, returns the ball against Clark’s High as his teammate Ian Hawkes looks on during Desert Region boys tennis championship match at Libert Hight School on Friday, Oct. 5, 2018, in Henderson. Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal @bizutesfaye

Artem Iermolov, Clark’s No. 1 singles player, was unavailable for the Desert Region championship match against Coronado on Friday at Liberty.

Turns out the Chargers didn’t need him.

Clark (15-0) held off Coronado (13-2) for an 11-7 victory and a second consecutive region championship. The Chargers will play Mountain Region champion Palo Verde on Saturday in the Southern Nevada team championship match.

All three teams advance to the Class 4A state tournament, as does Mountain Region runner-up Bonanza.

“We had some guys step up big time,” Clark coach Jordan Zimmel said. “If you can win the region championship without your best player, that’s really good. There are no guarantees. I was really impressed with how we played today.”

Rahul Gupte and Max Foels both went 3-0 in singles for Clark.

Coronado’s girls avenged the boys loss with a 14-4 victory over Bishop Gorman to claim their third consecutive region championship. Ava Nhaisi and Sidra Wohlwend were 3-0 in doubles for the Cougars (15-0), who haven’t lost since 2016.

Megan King and Paige Furin also were 3-0 in doubles, and Kennedy Buntrock was 2-0 in singles.

“We have five or six new players,” Coronado coach David Willingham said. “A lot of new girls come in and they’re accepted by the girls who have been there.”

Both teams advance to the Class 4A state tournament.

Palo Verde wins Mountain Region

Two-time defending boys state champion Palo Verde added another plaque to its trophy case with an 11-7 victory over Bonanza to win the Mountain Region title.

Trailing 9-5 in the final round, the Bengals closed the gap to 9-7 before Palo Verde doubles partners Nick Abdo and Kyle Stoddard, who had lost their previous two matches, defeated Bonanza’s Marshall Nelson and Mark Thuet to seal the championship.

“It was definitely a tough fought match today with these guys,” Palo Verde coach Rick Coop said. “Our kids battled back from adversity.”

Jack Kostrinsky, Michael Andre and defending state singles champion Axel Botticelli each went 2-1 for the Panthers (16-0).

Blake Kasday went 3-0 in singles for Bonanza, and Manny Gegen and Chase Kasday were 3-0 in doubles for the Bengals (15-2).

In the girls draw, Palo Verde built an 8-7 lead over Faith Lutheran, but third-round play was suspended because of darkness. The match will conclude Saturday morning at Bishop Gorman.

More preps: Follow all of our preps coverage online at nevadapreps.com and @NevadaPreps on Twitter.

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.