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Garrett Harper returns a serve during his match Tuesday. Harper was the lone Cowboy to win a counting match as the Redmond Panthers took a 7-1 victory.
Tuesday afternoon, the Redmond Panthers rolled to an easy 7-1 win over the Crook County Cowboys in Intermountain Hybrid tennis action.
“It’s a building year,” said Crook County head coach Michael Boyd. “Our guys are getting better and more prepared each match, so that’s encouraging.”
Garrett Harper was the lone Cowboy winner in the dual. Playing No. 3 singles, Harper was able to survive a marathon match, winning a third-set tiebreaker to earn the victory.
“I’m proud of Harper,” Boyd said. “He persevered. It was a long, grueling match.”
Brick Woodward and Jack Stubblefield also won a doubles match for the Cowboys. However, their victory did not count as both players had played, and lost singles matches earlier in the day. With players only allowed to play one counting match per dual, the Woodward, Stubblefield match was not part of the scoring in the meet.
“We have such a small team that what we do is double back and play just for fun and experience,” Boyd said.
The Cowboys officially forfeited three of the four doubles matches in the dual. By allowing players to double back and play in doubles matches following the conclusion of their singles matches, Crook County players were able to gain valuable additional experience. At the same time, Redmond players that would otherwise have had no match were also able to gain net time.
With so few players on the roster, the Cowboys are struggling to remain competitive. The team has been forced to forfeit three or more of the eight matches in each dual. The result is that even if Crook County were to win four of the five contested matches, they would still not win a dual.
“We are such a small team that every match we have essentially lost before we start,” Boyd said. “We would have to win every single match we play to have any shot at winning.”
The Cowboys hosted Ridgeview on Thursday. Then the team caps off a busy week in Ontario at the two-day Treasure Valley Community College Invitational.
