Facing an exceptional field of tennis talent Saturday at the Oregon Episcopal School Invitational in Portland, Philomath High’s boys won six matches with five of those by a pair of singles players that made a little noise.
The tournament was split up into two brackets — one with No. 1 and No. 2 singles players and doubles teams and the other with No. 3 and No. 4 singles and doubles.
Senior Andrew Leonard won his first two matches and reached the semifinals. In his first match against the host school’s Mason Do, he rallied for a 1-6, 6-2, 10-7 victory and in the quarterfinals, he downed Hood River Valley’s Van Aiken, 6-2, 6-1. La Salle Prep’s Kaiden Harris, who went on to win the tournament’s 1-2 bracket, downed Leonard in the semis.
In the No. 3-4 bracket, Philomath junior Jackson Rice lost his opening match to Beaverton’s Ben Dusicka but then reeled off three straight victories to win the consolation bracket. Rice had wins over Oregon Episcopal’s Steward Young (8-7), Corvallis’s Cruz Salcido (8-3) and La Salle Prep’s John Rask (8-5).
Philomath’s doubles team of senior Nick Purcell and sophomore Tiernan Bovbjerg won a consolation match over a Hood River Valley duo, Noah Boris and Quinn Petersen, by a score of 8-1.
The tournament featured 6A Beaverton, 5A La Salle Prep, 5A Corvallis, 5A Hood River Valley, 4A Philomath and 3A Oregon Episcopal, a 15-time state champion. La Salle Prep had the most wins with 14.
Philomath’s boys are scheduled to play Tuesday at Stayton.
