Gruber’s Title Ices The Cake

Inland Empire tennis

John Gruber invited a stranger onto the court Saturday to share in his 19th birthday celebration.

The stranger, a midmatch insertion as a line judge, did little except overrule one of Gruber’s calls against Mead opponent Ryan Moran. Yet Gruber was pleased to have the fellow courtside.

“It made me feel more confident,” Gruber, an Ellensburg senior, said after beating second-seeded Moran 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 for his third consecutive boys singles title at the 52nd Inland Empire tennis tournament.

“(In the third set) I just decided to go for the shots and not worry about the outcome,” said Gruber, the top seed. “I was too worried about the calls in the second set.”

Gruber left the court at Central Valley midway through the seventh game of the middle set. He expressed dismay over three close calls that Moran had ruled out, so tournament director Bill Wagstaff, also Moran’s coach, asked a spectator to serve as line judge.

Moran won the set anyway. Gruber broke the Mead junior for a 4-2 lead in the deciding set, then recorded another break for the match.

Tory Gambill and Brett Kaiser, who play Nos. 2 and 3 singles behind Moran in Greater Spokane League matches, teamed to win the boys doubles title. The top-seeded Panthers beat No. 2 Michael Cook and Tyler Kempton of West Valley (Yakima) 6-4, 6-4 after trailing in the second set 3-0.

“(Kaiser) served huge at 0-3,” said Gambill, a freshman whose brother Jan Michael is ranked about 275th in the world.

“(Playing doubles) is much more fun because you have someone who can pick you up,” said Kaiser, like Gambill a left-hander. Kaiser played on the boys doubles title team last year and teamed with sister Kelly to place second in mixed doubles in ‘95.

The efforts of Moran, Gambill and Kaiser helped Mead score 51 points. Richland, however, totaled 52 to snap Mead’s two-year hold on the team title. Ferris (41) was fifth.

GSL athletes played in four of the five championship matches, winning twice. Second-seeded Anna Adolphson and Ben Maixner of Lewis and Clark, seniors playing together for the first time, outlasted Kamiakin’s Kellie Geris and Mark Watson 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-6 (9-7) in mixed doubles.

“Anna’s been playing against the guys on the (LC) team a lot lately,” Maixner said.

“Ben and I have known each other for years,” Adolphson said, “and this is the first time I’ve played mixed doubles.”

Kamiakin, the lone unseeded team in the finals, double-faulted at 4-4 in the first-set tiebreaker and at 7-7 in the final-set tiebreaker.

In other finals, No. 4 Sarah Ullah and Shannon Urza of Richland beat No. 2 Katie Watts and Megan McKitterick of Ferris in girls doubles, 6-2, 6-1; and No. 3 Jamie Taylor of Hanford beat No. 2 Lyndsey Nott of Richland in girls singles, 7-5, 6-1.

Taylor beat top-seeded Katherine Martin of Kamiakin 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in Saturday’s semifinals. Martin was runner-up last year.

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