CLOVERDALE >> Homecourt advantage? Not at Clear Lake High School when the sport is tennis.
Playing on what coach Milo Meyer called the “worst courts in the entire Coastal Mountain Conference,” the Clear Lake tennis team members voted to travel to Cloverdale on Thursday for their match against the Eagles even though it was scheduled to take place in Lakeport.
“It’s like playing tennis at the beach,” Meyer said of the deteriorating surface that used to be home to some very good Clear Lake teams.
“We would rather play twice in Cloverdale than on our own courts,” Meyer, the Clear Lake High athletic director, said of the home-and-away schedule the CMC uses. “They have courts you can play on.”
Clear Lake’s swimming team also has no home since its facility at the Westshore Pool, which is located right next to the high school, was declared off limits to the team. The combined Clear Lake/Kelseyville swim team now travels to all of its meets. Clear Lake might have to start doing the same thing in tennis, according to Meyer given the horrible state of its courts.
The Cardinals (0-6 conference, 0-7 overall) nearly pulled off their first win of the season on Thursday, falling 3-2 to the Eagles in a match that came down to the No. 3 singles battle between Clear Lake’s Arturo Olmedo and Cloverdale’s Luke Pope. Olmedo won the first set before Pope rallied for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory, snapping a 2-all tie.
“He hit another gear and started playing better,” Meyer said of Pope’s comeback following a first-set loss to Olmedo.
Clear Lake picked up wins in No. 2 singles where Ethan Jones defeated Emmett Lawson 6-1, 6-3, and in first doubles where Bailey Elkington and Chris Vincent combined for a 6-2, 6-1 win over Pedro Sanchez and Paige Wasniak.
In other matches, Cloverdale’s Aiden Reynolds beat Liam Stahl 6-0, 6-0 in first singles, and Everett Conway and Derick Rilea were 6-2, 6-1, winners over Sereno Dominguez and Subhagya Joshi in second doubles.
Clear Lake’s Lexi Burke defeated Tea Mullen 7-5 in exhibition singles.
The Cardinals play at Kelseyville on Tuesday before wrapping up their regular-season schedule April 16 at home against Middletown at 4 p.m. The CMC Championships are set for May 1-2 in Ukiah.
