| Kellen Spillman concentrates on the ball during a home match last month. Spillman competed at number one singles during the state finals and successfully defeated his Wasatch opponent in the first round, but lost to Dixie in the second. Overall, the Carbon team finished in eighth place at the state event. |
The Carbon High tennis team completed their season last weekend as they traveled north to compete in the state finals.
As the team entered the final weekend, Dino coach Kurt King anticipated a good performance from his team. That is exactly what he received.
Although the Dinos finished the state meet in eighth place overall, King feels that this was the best the team has done in recent memory.
“They did a good job. It was hard for us to go into the finals and expect to be the better team when we have very limited resources. Most of the schools we competed against have year-round tennis facilities and profesional coaches teaching the students. Carbon on the other hand competes for fun, not for state titles,” explained the Dino coach.
The event left King pleased and the Dino squad excited to compete again next year.
Number one singles competitor, Joe Harber was unable to compete at the state event and King felt that the young athlete had a good chance of winning the first round of action and possibly finishing quite strong in the final round.
“The loss of Harber put us a point behind entering the event. We weren’t concerned however, we just knew that we had to make up for the loss,” King explained.
Bo Christensen played his best and attempted to make up for the point loss as he competed at number two singles.
Christensen faced a Uintah opponent who dominated the first set and forced the Dino athlete out of the state event by the final 6-0,6-4.
“It was a tough loss. Bo was ahead 3-1 in the second match when he was forced to sit out for a rain delay. When he came back out, he had a difficult time getting back into the swing of things and ended up losing. I think he would have beat the Uintah player if they had continued playing,” indicated King.
At number three singles, Kellen Spillman played well and advanced into the second round after defeating a Wasatch athlete. This gave the Dinos one point in their quest for a strong Carbon team finish.
The second round found Spillman competing against a Dixie athlete who forced the Dino competitor out of the winning bracket.
“We expected that Dixie would be a strong team and it was a bad draw for Spillman to have to face one of their team members in the second round. But he did do a good job,” King stated.
At number one doubles, Neil Maynes and Sean Watkins competed against a Wasatch team in the first round. The Carbon duo played well and won the round in three sets.
This pushed the team into the second round where they faced a Pineview team.In this round, the Dino squad lost, 6-0,6-1.
“Pineview was another team we were concerned about. They always have a strong team, but Maynes and Watkins played good against them,” explained the Carbon coach.
Finally, at number two doubles, Ryne Vogel and Chris Powell competed against Uintah in the first round and then moved on to play against Ogden.
In the end, Carbon finished with three team points and an eighth place finish.
King looks forward to next year when the single atheletes return along with Vogel.
“Next year will be a rebuilding season. We will have several athletes return, but we will also have to break in new blood. It has been fun this year however, and each kid did a great job. It was a lot of fun,” concluded the Dino coach.