Fred Edwards will be left to wonder, “what if?”
Durango High School’s No. 1 singles boys tennis player had his consolation final washed out Saturday at the Western Slope Open in Grand Junction.
He started the day in the semifinals, where he lost to Denver East 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.
“You can see the momentum there,” DHS head coach Dave Weisfeldt said. “We thought it was with Fred. Fred was really aggressive; we thought he was swinging (at) the ball well. This kid had some wacky lobs.”
Edwards was supposed to face Heritage in a third-place match after that, but rain cancelled the remainder of the tournament.
“It was enough at the right time to cancel the tournament,” Weisfeldt said. “There were a lot of Front Range teams that traveled – and we did, too – that couldn’t risk a 10-minute warmup then another cloudburst and on like that.”
Luke Jernigan, playing as the alternate at No. 2 singles after Alijah Konikowski injured his ankle Friday, lost 6-0 to Littleton in the consolation bracket.
Jake Beekman played three matches at No. 3 singles.
He lost to Arvada West 8-2 at 7 a.m., beat Dakota Ridge 6-2 and beat Grand Junction Central 7-5.
“Jake played a lot of tennis (Saturday),” Weisfeldt said. “He had a heck of a tournament picking up wins.”
The No. 1 doubles team of Will Downs and Micah Hwang ran into a brutal matchup against Fruita Monument and lost 6-1 in the consolation bracket.
“They felt the full fury of Front Range doubles most of the tournament,” Weisfeldt said. “Because they got a bye in their first (consolation) round, that knocked them out.”
The No. 2 doubles team of Amon Ledger-Swenson and Nick Roberts also lost to Fruita Monument 6-1.
“Kind of the same deal,” Weisfeldt said.
Ian Osby and Tommy Rodgers fell to Grand Junction Central 9-2, beat Dakota Ridge 7-6 (8-6) and lost 6-3 to Columbine at No. 3 doubles.
At No. 4 doubles, Luke Meyer and Eno Ulshafer lost 6-0 to Aspen and 7-5 to Dakota Ridge.
“Interestingly they went out in the match 0-5,” Weisfeldt said. “Clawed their way back to 5-5 and couldn’t turn the corner.”
Fruita Monument will visit DHS at 9 a.m. Saturday for Durango’s only home match.
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