KELSEYVILLE — Florian Kelder and teammates Stuart Davy and Ryan Kriken lived up to their high seedings on Thursday during the opening rounds of the Coastal Mountain Conference Tennis Championships, which were split between Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa and Kelseyville High School.
And they weren”t the only Kelseyville players to advance to today”s semifinals in the boys” singles and doubles divisions. Kelseyville”s other doubles team of Evan Carpenter and Jon Don Kincannon, unseeded in the original field, is also still around after upsetting the No. 2-seeded team in the quarterfinals.
“They went in unseeded but they had a really good year,” Kelseyville coach Jeff McLaren said of Carpenter and Kincannon. “When I finally got them together to play first doubles, they went undefeated in league.”
After drawing a first-round bye, the Carpenter-Kincannon team stunned the No. 2 seeds, Andrew Jopson and Zachary Hughes of Cloverdale, 8-4 (pro set) in the second round. They also cruised in the quarterfinals, beating an unseeded team from Anderson Valley 6-2, 6-0.
In today”s semifinals, Carpenter-Kincannon will meet the No. 3-seeded team from Rincon Valley Christian.
In the other half of the bracket, No. 1-seeded Davy-Kriken, both singles players during the regular season, marched into the semifinals without losing a game. After a first-round bye, they beat Fred Westenburg and Dima Tsepelev of Cloverdale 8-0 in second-round action. Davy-Kriken then beat an unseeded team from Willits 6-0, 6-0 in the quarterfinals.
In today”s semifinals, Davy-Kriken draw the No. 4 seeds out of St. Vincent.
Boys” singles
Form prevailed in boys” singles as the top four seeds — Miguel Orozco of St. Vincent, Florian Kelder of Kelseyville, Walter Lewis of Mendocino and David Schumacher of Cloverdale — all advanced to today”s semifinals.
Orozco, the defending CMC singles champion, will play Schumacher in one of the semifinal matches. The other pairs No. 2 seed Kelder and No. 3 Lewis.
Kelder had a first-round bye before going on to beat K.C. White of Clear Lake 8-0 in the second round and Jacob Kreger of Cloverdale 6-0, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
“Tomorrow (Friday) is going to be a real exciting day,” McLaren said of the semifinal singles pairings.
“I don”t know much about the guy,” McLaren said of Kelder”s semifinal opponent, “but Flo did beat Schumacher (of Cloverdale) when they met earlier this year. Those two could meet in the finals.”
On the prospect of an all-Kelseyville doubles final between Davy-Kriken and Carpenter-Kincannon, McLaren said he didn”t have a favorite and would root for both teams. The winner automatically qualifies for the North Coast Section Championships as does the boys” singles winner.
Girls
Unseeded Tasha Gibbs of Middletown won both of her matches on Thursday to reach today”s semifinal round. Gibbs is one of two unseeded players to reach the semifinals, where she”ll play No. 2 Tia Viera of Fort Bragg. The other semifinal pairs No. 1 seed Stella Day of Anderson Valley against an unseeded player from Rincon Valley Christian.
Gibbs beat Jisu Yaun of Mendocino 8-3 in a first-round match before upsetting No. 3 seed Gina Kelley of Rincon Valley Christian 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
“I”ve always known that Tasha had all the strokes, but this year she hasn”t been able to put it all together and get wins,” Middletown coach Marc Morita said. “Something clicked today and it”s working for her.”
In girls” doubles action, the Middletown team of Zoe Everett and Jeanine Zolczynski, the No. 1 seeds in the field, also made it through to today”s semifinals. They turned back a strong challenge from an unseeded Mendocino team to win 8-6 in the opening round, then beat Clear Lake”s Nycole Copping and Claire Mansell 6-2, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
“They came out of the box a little slow, but they warmed up in a hurry,” Morita said. “I”m really excited for them.”
Everett and Zolcyznski will meet an unseeded Rincon Valley Christian team in the semifinals. In the other semifinal, seeded teams from Cloverdale and Rincon Valley Christian battle it out.
Semifinal action in all divisions begins today at 9 a.m. at Konocti Harbor Resort & Marina.
