MT. PLEASANT-- For the North Sanpete tennis team it was the best of times and it was the worst of times this past week. Besides battling the weather to try and get matches in, the Hawks also had several opponents to battle in a three-day stretch. The squad put together two wins against Delta and Richfield, before taking a tough loss against Juan Diego.

The match against Delta was a real dogfight as the Rabbits have a good team this year. The second doubles team of Jeremy Garlick and Kelton Rasmussen had the easiest time, and their match was no cakewalk. The duo faced up against John Santos and Stephen Stanworth of Delta and won 7-6(1) 6-3.

Junior Tucker Morin's third singles match was a real seesaw affair. Morin actually lost his first set 3-6 and in the cold and breezy weather had to find the moxie to make a two-set comeback. That is exactly what the fiery Fairview netter did, taking the next two sets 6-2 and 6-3 to seal the win.

After the second singles and first doubles team lost their matches, it all came down to Spring City's Michael Lewis in first singles. The spot is tough and whoever fills the position has to be very mentally focused because he is playing the top person on the opponent's team.

Lewis took the first set 6-4, and was playing pretty well, but Delta's Devron Johnson refused to buckle and fought back for a 3-6 second set win to sent the match into a third and deciding set.

Lewis dropped into a 2-5 hole against his Rabbit opponent, and the Hawks were staring a match defeat right in the face. At that time, Lewis dug deep and showed the character of a true champion and came back and won the next five games to win the set and give his team the match.

Against Richfield, things were not nearly as dramatic. North Sanpete played very well and earned the first sweep of the season, beating the Wildcats 5-0. The closest match was in second singles when senior Parker Earl forced a third-set tiebreaker and then went on to get the win.

After being humiliated 1-6 in the first set, Mt. Pleasant's Parker Earl came back with a vengeance to take the second 6-2. The two opponents then battled each other to a deadlock in the third set.

Earl fell into a 0-3 deficit to start the tiebreaker, but chipped away and had some very long rallies, winning seven straight points to win the tie breaker 7-3.

The worst of times came against a very good Juan Diego team who will be looking to take a state title this year. The Soaring Eagle made short work of the Hawks, grounding them in all five varsity matches.