Bulldogs shine at district tennis

SANDPOINT — Megan Rockwell and Kennedy Search won in straight sets at No. 1 girls doubles, leading Sandpoint on Friday during the first day of the 4A Region 1 tennis championships in Moscow.

The pair will be favored today in the finals, looking to punch their ticket to state and get the best possible seed in the process.

Perhaps the surprise of the first day was the play of both Bulldogs mixed doubles teams, which advanced to the finals with straight set wins over Moscow.

No. 1 seeds and defending district champs Nicolette Jessen and Carson Nygren will face teammates and No. 2 seed Collin Jurenka and Katie Mares in the finals this morning. The winner qualifies for state, while the loser will need to battle back in the consolation draw for the second berth to state.

“Collin and Katie finally started to gel and will give Carson and Nicolette a fight in the finals,” said Bulldogs head coach Kent Anderson. “Carson and Nicolette overwhelmed their opponents to get to the finals.”

Micah Buckmiller and Alex Hon are alive in the consolation draw after losing a hard fought three-set match in boys doubles, falling 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to the Peck brothers from Lakeland in the semis.

“That was the match of the day,” said Anderson. “It was high level doubles.”

The hard-hitting team won in straight sets to eliminate teammates Spencer Temple and Daniel Durfee, and will have to take the longer consolation road to earn a berth to state.

Bailey Scrimsher lost in the second round, and will have to face teammate Cassidy Story today to stay alive in the consolation.

Caroline Suppiger is alive in the consolation in girls singles, Lorenzo DeBernardi is still alive in the consolation of boys singles, while Alvaro Garcia and Broc Storro were both eliminated on Friday.

Action continues today as players grind for state berths.