The Durango High School boys tennis team lost both matches in a trip to Grand Junction on Friday, losing 4-3 to Vail Mountain and 0-7 to host Fruita Monument.
In the first match against Vail Mountain, Will Lammons won at the No. 1 singles position 6-3, 6-4. It was Lammon’s first match of the season, as the senior is also a defender on the boys soccer team.
“Will was consistent in his first match and he played well,” said Demons head coach Alan Batiste. “I was proud of him because it was his first match of the season due to soccer, and he played well.”
Also getting wins in the first match were two pairs of doubles partners. At the No. 3 slot, Jonah DiGacamo and Carter Ward won both sets in tiebreakers, 7-6 (10-7), 7-6 (10-8).
Meanwhile at the No. 4 doubles position, Andy Rodriquez and Calan Barnhart won in three sets, 6-2, 4-6 7-6 (10-6). Batiste said it’s been a solid start to the season, but the Demons are still trying to figure out who is best paired up with one another.
“It was good teamwork today,” Batiste said. “We are still trying to figure each other out. It’s kind of like finding roommates; who plays well with whom, because our lineup is going to change a bit and it was a good preseason test before we get to regionals.”
The Demons will play Grand Junction Central at 10 a.m. Saturday.
The Manitou Springs boys soccer team manhandled the Bayfield boys soccer team Friday evening in Bayfield, thrashing the Wolverines 7-1.
Ryan Bergsten got the scoring going for the Mustangs, scoring in the opening minute of the game. Bayfield (0-3) knotted the score at one when Mattia DiBello scored for the Wolverines in the 11th minute.
The stalemate lasted ten minutes until Mustangs midfielders Sean Lowe and Cullen Cole scored in the span of three minutes, once in the 21st and the other in the 24th minute.
Manitou Springs took the 3-1 lead into the half and picked up its offensive firepower even more in the second half.
After the break, Manitou scored four more times, with goals in the 52nd, 67th, 72nd and 80th minute.
“We’re learning a new formation right now, trying something that we’ve never done – this program has never done – to help us understand positioning better,” said Wolverines head coach Chris Zoltowski.
“And I think they’re starting to learn it; playing this in real time is helping us multiply our growth rate, which I’m super excited about.”
The Wolverines will play at Crested Butte at 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8.
Pine River Times sports reporter Joel Priest contributed to this report.
bploen@durangoherald.com
