Cope, Icardo notch win over Post Falls JV
—Photo by ERIC PLUMMER Clark Fork senior James Cope rips a forehand during a match against the Sandpoint JV recently at Travers Park.
CLARK FORK — James Cope and Niko Icardo, who will likely team up at districts, notched a solid 6-4, 7-5 win over the Post Falls JV to lead the Clark Fork tennis team in a pair of recent duals against Post Falls and Sandpoint JV.
Lucas Pothoven, the Wampus Cats’ top player, won 6-1 at No. 1 singles, then teamed with Cope against the Trojans’ top JV player and their coach for an entertaining match. Pothoven, who doesn’t attend Clark Fork High School, won’t be able to compete at districts or state, but gives the Cats a strong player the rest of the year.
Grace Shelton and Lily Simko team up and lost in straight sets in girls doubles, Hunter Sutton and Veronica Dake lost in straight sets in mixed doubles, Jensen Heisel and Rose Levy lost 9-7 in a second set tie-breaker at mixed and Sutton and Icardo lost 7-5 in boys doubles to round out Cats playing doubles.
Levy won her first varsity match 6-1 in girls singles.
“The Post Falls JV is always fun to play. It’s more of a scrimmage format where they play one set and rotate,” said Wampus Cats head coach Jeff Emmer. “It gives our players a chance to play with a different teammate.”
Against the Bulldog JV, with fans from Clark Fork in attendance at Travers Park, Pothoven beat Shane Curtis 6-2 in singles, and Cope and Pothoven edged out Noah Hastings and Julian Nizzoli 7-6 (7-4) in an entertaining boys doubles match.
Charlie Crane and Declan Plummer won 6-4 over Cope and Icardo in doubles, while Plummer beat Icardo 6-3 in singles. Cope and Icardo then beat Plummer and Sam Aguirre 6-3 in doubles.
Sutton and Heisel lost 6-4 to Paige Crane and McCalee Cain, then lost to Sam Aguirre and Miles Luce.
Levy lost to Alyssa Webster 6-0 in girls singles, then bounced back to beat Olivia Ramirez 6-4.
Simko and Shelton lost 6-0 to Amy Clark and Tessa Beeman, then lost 6-1 to Maranda Montgomery and Danika Tomasich, before scoring a 6-0 win over Ava Blaser and Julia Burmeister.
“This is the closest we get to having a home match,” said Emmer. “It’s a great opportunity for the teams’ friends and family to see them play. Sandpoint has got a great group of kids.”
Clark Fork is at the Inland Empire Tournament on Friday in Spokane.