Singles carry Bobcats to victory

Thanks to its characteristic domination of singles competition, Aberdeen made a rare home boys tennis appearance count.

Dropping only four games in singles, the Bobcats downed River Ridge, 4-2, in a non-league match Monday at the Sam Benn courts.

This was the Bobcats’ first home match of the season — and their last of the month. Playing as a Class 2A independent due to the shortage of teams in the Evergreen 2A/1A League that offer tennis (only Eatonville has a boys program) and the disinclination of former Evergreen 2A Conference rivals (with the exception of Chehalis) to play them, the Cats (4-1) have patched together a schedule that takes them as far afield as Eatonville and Tacoma. Their next home contest is Oct. 1.

Singles have been Aberdeen’s strong suit all season. Monday’s match was no exception.

Cole Edwards needed barely 45 minutes to roll past Chris Jackson, 6-1, 6-0, in the No. 1 singles match. Conner Weber disposed of Kurt Cournard by an identical score. John Solan, who actually completed his match before the other two, trounced Elijah Dilworth, 6-1, 6-1.

“Clearly, our singles is our strength,” Aberdeen coach Andy Duffy said. “We’ve got three good singles players.”

The Edwards-Jackson match was more entertaining than the score might suggest.

The possessor of a powerful if erratic topspin forehand, Jackson rushed the net at every opportunity, but was no match for Edwards’ consistent groundstrokes.

After dropping what proved to be the only game of the match, in the third game of the opening set, Edwards reeled off the next 10 points to take command.

He lost only six points — one on a double-fault — in the second set.

The best point of the match came in the opening game of the second set. Edwards made a leaping backhand volley to intercept Jackson’s attempt at a forehand passing shot. Jackson chased down that return, but the Aberdeen senior responded with a forehand winner.

“He was focused out there,” Duffy said of Edwards. “He took care of business soundly, but he still had to play good tennis.”

The Bobcat coach also cited John Solan for one of his best performances.

Aberdeen’s lone doubles victory came from the Warren Pratt-Ryan Solan duo. Pratt’s winning volleys on the final two points concluded a 6-1, 6-2 victory over Kurt Price and Ben Oliver.

That technically provided the deciding point in the team competition, although the decisiveness of the singles would have given the Bobcats the advantage in any tiebreaker.

Aberdeen journeys to Charles Wright Academy today.

Cole Edwards (A) def. Chris Jackson, 6-1, 6-0; John Solan (A) def. Elijah Dilworth, 6-1, 6-1; Conner Weber (A) def. Kurt Cournard, 6-1, 6-0; Warren Pratt-Ryan Solan (A) def. Kurt Price-Ben Oliver, 6-1, 6-2; Chris Corbin-Koyo Suzuki (RR) def. Juan Venegas-Jesse Paik, 6-3, 6-4; Matthew O’Leary-Payton Bonill (RR) def. Christian Haerle-Luis Garcia, 6-3, 6-2.