Better than Sheldon. Better than North Medford. These are schools Thurston hasn't been able to beat in recent dual competitions, but managed to outscore May 15th-17th, in the 2014 Boys 6A District Conference Tournament. Ten points earned the Colts 5th place; the best finish for the Boys tennis team in several years. It was unexpected, but well-earned.

Two first round singles wins garnered 4 points with Chris Kamkar topping Cody Schultz (SM) 6-4, 7-6 and Layne Altemus outscoring Tyler Broyles (GP) 1-6, 6-4, 10-7.

Two first round doubles wins added 4 more points with Bryce Vogt & Chase Robbins edging North Medford 4-6, 6-3, 10-6 and Ethan Gould & Avery Powell besting North Medford 6-4, 6-2.

The final two points were collected by Josh Richardson & Treyson Sherk in the Consolation bracket with two wins over Grants Pass.

On Saturday, May 17th, the Consolation Final versus South Eugene was played at Thurston. The hotly contested dual featured 14 match points with the Axemen outpointing the Colts 6-7, 6-1, 7-6. One highlight was that the 2014 home attendance record was broken with scores of people watching the highly entertaining final match of the season.

Wed 5/14

1:45        We got on the road on time.

4:30        Practice at Bear Creek Park in Medford. 95 degrees outside.

5:15        Everyone fled to the shade trees.

5:45        Comfort Inn Hotel Check In with time to shower and relax.

7:00        Team Dinner at Applebee's.

8:15        Tennis talk and season reflection discussions.

8:30        Tennis Jeopardy in Comfort Inn lobby sitting area.

9ish        Wait! What?! South Eugene's tennis team arrives at same hotel (surprising because there are at least 6 choices within a 1/4 mile, including 3 in the same parking lot).

10:00     Josh, Treyson & Nick win Jeopardy by exactly…yup, just like on TV…$1.

11:30     Everybody is in bed, asleep, just as the coaches requested.

Thu 5/15

8:30        Breakfast at hotel

10:00     District Tournament.

5:00        5th Place Finish!

5:30        Dinner at Wendy's (which won by 1 vote-again!-over Carl's).

9:00        Home with plenty of time to get started on Friday's homework.

After some reconfiguring over the past several weeks and some individual challenge matches to determine final roster spots, the team announced its line-up for 2014 post-season district play:

Singles: #1 Chris Kamkar / #2 Layne Altemus / #3 Brent Hill / #4 Nick Romig.

Doubles: #1 Treyson Sherk & Josh Richardson / #2 Bryce Vogt & Chase Robbins / #3 Eric Andersen & Jabon Hagel / #4 Ethan Gould & Avery Powell.

The Colts concluded their regular season with a 6-2 home match win versus North Eugene at THS on May 6th. Senior Recognition Day featured fence-tied balloons shaped to spell a wind-blown "T" and cupcakes filled a table with 18 of them specially marked with letters spelling out the first names of Bryce Vogt, Josh Richardson, Brent Hill and Eric Andersen. All of this to celebrate the four senior's final home tennis match.

The line-up featured Brent & Bryce as doubles partners to end their career the same way it started. They played #4 Doubles together in their first match ever, against North Eugene as sophomores in 2012. They won then and followed up with a 6-1, 6-2 win at #2 Doubles this time.

Josh & Eric each won their final home match as well. Josh Richardson & Treyson Sherk won at #1 Doubles 6-2, 6-0 and Eric Andersen & Jabon Hagel won at #3 Doubles 6-0, 6-4. Thurston swept the doubles with the #4 pairing of Alex Bailey & Greg Gillespie winning 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-1.

Layne Altemus, who recently moved to singles, picked up a win at #1 with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 victory and Sean Bacon made his varsity debut at #4 Singles coming back from a set down to win 1-6, 8-6, 6-4.

In JV action, Thomas Kamkar won in straight sets 6-3, 6-1.

With the win the Colts finished with a 3-9-2 record for the 2014 campaign.

Team Co-captain Bryce Vogt bugged the coaches until they relented in allowing nicknames to be read as part of the announcing of the starting lineup for each remaining match.

These are they creative names chosen. They are not necessarily nicknames players go by at school or on the courts, but more of a humorous attempt to celebrate individuality.

Here they are:

Layne "The Ultimate" Altemus          

Eric "White Mamba" Andersen

Sean "Makin'" Bacon

Alex "No Do Tennis" Bailey

Greg "The Swifty Southpaw" Gillispie              

Ethan "Pot of" Gould

Jabon "The Bagel" Hagel

Hunter "Skittles" Hendrickson

Brent "It's not a mountain butta" Hill

Chris "Full Western" Kamkar

Thomas "The Train" Kamkar

Avery "Boog" Powell

Josh "Mo-Mo" Richardson

Chase "31 flavors" Robbins

Nick "Name" Romig

Treyson "Gotta Ciabatta" Sherk

Bryce "Waszowski" Vogt

Ryan "Moon ball" Warner

Marist beat Thurston 4-0 on Cinco de Mayo in a rain-shortened tennis match last Monday. The team was in the infantile stages of a comeback when the skies opened up and the match was cancelled, which was unfortunate because it was sunny and dry an hour later.

Marist played its very strong singles and doubles teams first, quickly racing to a 4-0 lead. #3 Doubles Bryce Vogt & Chase Robbins were deadlocked 6-1, 2-6, 5-6 (on serve) when the dual match was called. Two other matches had just started and were tied at 1-1 in the first set.

The Colts were confident they could have closed the gap on the Spartans' lead because earlier results with shared opponents suggested the Colts could come close in the final outcome.

Thurston travelled to Sheldon High School for a rematch of their April 8th contest with plans to improve on their previous 6-2 deficit. And although the team fell just one match short of a tie, the boys improved their score and stayed close until the end before losing 5-3.

The newly formed partners of Josh Richardson & Treyson Sherk posted a straight set victory at #1 Doubles 6-4, 6-0 while the newly paired #3 Doubles team of Bryce Vogt & Chase Robbins won a hard fought 6-3, 6-7(3), 10-5 contest. The veteran pair of Eric Andersen & Brent Hill continued their success by breezing to a 6-2, 6-2 win at #2 Doubles. The closest the team came to grasping a team tie was at #2 Singles where Layne Altemus lost a close match 4-6, 5-7.

Sheldon was the last shot for a conference win. The team lost all seven 6A matches for the 2014 ledger.

In a rematch of their April 3rd contest the Colts travelled to Churchill April 29th with a revamped line-up in place. Just prior to the midpoint, the Lancers were up 3 to 0. The Colts roared back starting with Bryce Vogt's & Eric Andersen's 6-2, 7-5 victory at #2 Doubles. #3 Doubles Jabon Hagel & Hunter Hendrickson pulled the score to within one with their 6-3, 2-6, 10-2 win.

A long hard battle for #3 Singles went the distance with Brent Hill winning 7-5, 6-7(5), 10-7 leaving the team score knotted at 3 apiece. #4 Doubles Avery Powell & Ethan Gould put the Colts ahead with their comeback win 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. But it would take two more tiebreakers to conclude the long day. Chase Robbins lost a very close 6-7, 6-7 contest at #4 Singles ending the dual match tied 4-4.

In JV action, Nick Romig won convincingly 8-1.

With no system in place to break the tie, a THS tennis fan might enjoy knowing that when all the day's games were added up, the final tally was Colts 105 - Lancers 104.

On Monday, THS lost to SEHS 8-0, but won 160% more games against South than in their March 20th contest.   

The team is getting anxious to play another match as rain has washed out Springfield, South Eugene and Marist over the past eight days.

South Eugene has been rescheduled for Monday, April 28th.

Marist has been rescheduled for Monday, May 5th.

In the lull, a look back at the season so far shows that Brent Hill has won 4 of his last 5 matches and leads the team with 4 wins. Eric Andersen and Brent Hill have a 3-match win streak at #2 Doubles.

Brent Hill and Eric Andersen held off Willamette at #2 Doubles 6-3, 7-6(4), to clinch the tie last Tuesday in a home match with each team winning four contests. Willamette won the rest of the doubles match-ups. Josh Richardson, Chris Kamkar and Chase Robbins each won their match in straight sets at singles.

In JV action, Alex Bailey picked up an 8-1 win at #6 Singles.

The Colts picked up their second win of the season with a 7-1 victory over the Highlanders of North Eugene April 10th. Five of the eight matches were close for a while, so it took time to clinch the victory.

The four singles matches were played first. #1 Singles Treyson Sherk and #2 Singles Josh Richardson won their matches handily. #3 Singles Chris Kamkar battled back from 0-2, 0-40 to win his first set while #4 Singles Chase Robbins outdueled his opponent in their first set 7-5. Both boys went on to two set victories putting the Colts up 4-0 halfway through the match.

#4 Doubles Ethan Gould & Avery Powell clinched the team win with a convincing two set victory. #2 Doubles Eric Andersen & Brent Hill survived a second-set tiebreak to win their match in straight sets. And #3 Doubles Jabon Hagel & Nick Romig battled through two close sets to win their match 7-5, 7-6. #1 Doubles Bryce Vogt & Layne Altemus ended the day by losing a squeeker 5-7, 7-5, 10-7 that could have gone either way.

In JV action, Ryan Warner & Alex Bailey lost a close match  4-6, 3-6.

An additional highlight was the NEHS volunteer parents who grilled hot dogs and offered everyone Cocoa Crispies marshmallow treats. Almost everyone went home happy AND fed. The team's overall record stands at 2-6.

Thurston Boys Varsity Tennis returned from spring break to play five matches in eight days including a double header in Medford on Saturday, April 5th. Four of the contests were 6A league matches and the fifth was against Churchill (5A). Although the team lost all five team contests, there were some high points to get excited about.

Against the highly skilled 6A opponents the Boys were able to muster up five match wins.

The team's five 6A victories were:

#1 Singles   Treyson Sherk 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 vs. North Medford

#4 Singles   Brent Hill          3-6, 6-3, 10-8 vs. North Medford

#3 Doubles Ethan Gould/Hunter Hendrickson   6-1, 3-6, 6-2 vs. South Medford

#2 Doubles Brent Hill/Eric Andersen                  6-3, 6-2 vs. Sheldon

#3 Doubles Jabon Hagel/Hunter Hendrickson   4-6, 7-5, 6-3 vs. Sheldon

The team's three wins verse Churchill were:

#2 Singles Josh Richardson  6-1, 6-1

#3 Singles Chris Kamkar       6-2, 6-2

#4 Singles Chase Robbins    6-3, 6-4

Part of the fun of being on a team is the travel and meals shared together. The team left for Medford at 7:30 a.m. and returned at 8:30 p.m. sharing long car rides, lunch, dinner and even a rain-delay together. One fun experience was for the second year in a row the team split votes on where to eat dinner. Wendy's won by one vote over Carl's' Jr., the exact opposite tally of last year's Grant's Pass dinner vote. The Thurston tennis world was back in alignment.

A strong South Eugene High School team beat THS 8-0 on March 20th. It was the Colts first league match. Here was the starting line up:

#1 Singles: Treyson Sherk

#1 Doubles: Bryce Vogt / Layne Altemus

#2 Singles: Josh Richardson

#2 Doubles: Jabon Hagel / Chase Robbins

#3 Singles: Brent Hill

#3 Doubles: Ryan Warner / Nick Romig

#4 Singles: Chris Kamkar

#4 Doubles: Avery Powell / Ethan Gould

#5 Doubles: Alex Bailey / Hunter Hendrickson

The Varsity Boys' Tennis team opened their season with a 7-1 victory on Tuesday against cross-town rival Springfield High School (SHS). The competition was more like a scrimmage as SHS only has six players this season. Instead of forfeiting or cancelling the match, SHS agreed to play every player twice while Thurston agreed to sit several of its strongest players. Everyone was happy to have a competition take place.

Singles winners were:

Brent Hill, Jabon Hagel, Nick Romig

Doubles winners were:

Layne Altemus & Bryce Vogt

Chase Robbins & Jabon Hagel

Alex Bailey & Hunter Hendrickson

Thomas Kamkar & Nick Romig

Veteran players make a team stronger and Thurston is excited to have ten players back from last season:

Seniors:   Eric Andersen, Brent Hill, Josh Richardson, Bryce Vogt.  

Juniors:   Chris Kamkar, Treyson Sherk.

Sophomores:   Sean Bacon, Jabon Hagel, Chase Robbins, Ryan Warner.

The team has added an experienced player Layne Altemus and seven new freshmen:

Alex Bailey, Greg Gillispie, Ethan Gould, Hunter Hendrickson, Thomas Kamkar, Avery Powell, Nick Romig.