Mother Nature wreaking havoc on prep tennis season

Lewis and Clark boys tennis coach Tobin Phelps put it succinctly.

“If I ever see another squeegee again it will be too soon,” he said.

Pushing water off tennis courts has been an integral part of the 2017 spring season, along with regular postponements.

The season is approaching its midpoint, but it seems almost a quarter of those first-half matches have been postponed. That translates into busy home stretch that includes the annual Inland Empire tournament looming in two weeks.

“I was just talking with Bill Wagstaff, the Mead boys coach,” Phelps said. “He’s been at this longer than I have, so I asked him if this was the worst spring he’s ever seen. He said it’s getting close. I know it’s the worst I’ve seen when it comes to postponements and getting kids out on the court.

“Spring in Spokane is never the crème de la crème, weather-wise. But without a doubt, this has been a challenge all the way around.”

Weather has been the only consistent winner thus far this season, Phelps said.

“We’ve been scrambling to find time in the gym and getting on a court whenever we can,” he said. “It’s been a challenge. A lot of the time we’ll get the courts dried off just in time for it to start raining again. It’s been a major challenge for everyone.”

Phelps has said he’s relying somewhat on players who belong to local indoor tennis clubs.

“Of course, that’s all unsupervised when it comes to having a Lewis and Clark coach there, but at least they’re getting court time,” he said. “We’ve asked them to take a buddy with them whenever they can so that kids who don’t belong to a club can get in a workout. If they can use a pass or sign someone else in with them, whatever works.

“I think that’s the case with most of the teams that are in the hunt to win league and get to state. They have kids who belong to clubs and can practice that way.”

Senior Kyle Fager is the Tigers’ No. 1 singles player and is set to cap off a remarkable four-year career.

The No. 3 singles player for LC as a freshman, he got bumped up to play No. 2 singles at the IE Tournament and won his division. He then captured the regional title when No. 1 and No. 2 singles players Luke Brittan and Jordan Strandness chose to play doubles and won the state title.

“He ended up not playing at state because he committed to a band trip,” Phelps said. “But he has had a great career here and I am excited for him going forward.”

A year later Fager and Strandness combined to win LC its second straight boys doubles championship and Spark the Tigers to the State 4A boys team title.

Last year Fager placed fourth at state as a singles player, fallng to eventual state champion Austin Gau of Newport in the quarterfinals.

Fager will play college tennis for the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, next year.

“I am so proud of him,” Phelps said. “I know the pressure of figuring out your future is tough and he’s glad to have that all out of the way now. There is a pretty rigorous standard, physically, that they have to meet and I put him through a series of tests and wrote him a letter of recommendation.”

Phelps said his No. 2 singles player, freshman Jacob Huppin, will factor into the postseason picture somehow.

“One of the problems with having such a rough spring is that you don’t have a really good idea of where you are at this point,” he said. “l have a pretty senior-dominated group, so I’m farther ahead than most, but it’s going to be a while before anyone of us have a real handle on where we are.”

The Inland Empire Tournament will play an even bigger role in sorting out that picture this year.

“I know I’m going to rely on it more than usual,” Phelps said.

There are two Fagers atop the tennis squads at LC this season. Sophomore Brooke Fager is the Tigers’ No. 1 girls singles player a year after helping capture the state doubles title and helping LC win the girls state team title.

Fager and senior Abby DeNike beat Nicole Yen and Kayla Lee of Eastlake in straight sets in the final.

Fager topped Gonzaga Prep No. 1 singles player Lizzie Marcinkowski in LC’s 5-2 win over the Bullpups last week.

Fager, Mead’s Katie Kuka, University’s Katie Smithgall and Marcinkowski all are in the hunt for the Greater Spokane League’s singles title.

Kuka placed fifth at last year’s girls State 4A tournament, losing her first match before winning three straight matches to earn her trophy. Smithgall was a regional semifinalist a year ago. Marcinkowski lost to Central Valley’s Kyra Harames in the No. 1 singles final at the IE Tournament last year.

Last year’s top singles player, Harames, now is playing tennis at Dixie State University in St. George, Utah.