In a No. 1 singles battle against Corvallis Saturday at the Oregon Episcopal School Invitational, Philomath High senior Dawson Beckstead found himself in a hole early against Liam Gottlieb by dropping a close first set, 7-6.
Beckstead regrouped, however, and took both the second and third sets by 6-3 margins. As it turned out, the match was Philomath’s only win in what has always been a challenging tournament at the private school in Portland.
Corvallis, a Class 5A opponent, won the other seven matches in its dual against Philomath. However, it wasn’t exactly easy for the Spartans with five matches going to the full three sets. At No. 1 doubles, Teddy Benbow and Sawyer Ainsworth lost a close one, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4. Osvaldo Garcia-Bazan and Jackson Holroyd at No. 3 doubles also came up short, 6-7, 7-5, 6-2. At No. 2 singles, Andrew Leonard forced a third set but lost 6-1, 4-6, 6-0. And at No. 3 singles, Owen Thomas pushed his opponent to the limit in a loss of 6-3, 2-6, 11-9.
Philomath also faced the host school and lost by an 8-0 margin. The lone match to go three sets was at No. 4 singles where Thomas lost by a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 score.
The Warriors now have a 5-2-1 dual record on the season.
The Warriors are scheduled to have a busy week with matches on Tuesday at North Marion, Thursday at Cascade and Friday at home against Molalla.
