After finishing the regular season with a Region 12 co-championship, the North Sanpete Hawk tennis team found out just how tough it is to compete against schools that have access to year-round tennis clubs and teaching pros. The Hawk netters finished well amongst schools their size but finished in ninth place overall against other 3A schools.

In a tournament dominated by St. George schools and teams from other areas, North Sanpete held its own to make it into the top 10 schools at the state playoffs. Snow Canyon won their first ever state tennis championship and the Warriors were followed by Juan Diego and Desert Hills.

Of schools that are comparable to North Sanpete, Grantsville finished in fifth place and Payson and Union tied for seventh. The Hawks finished just behind them.

With that said, Coach Jeff Ericksen was still hoping for a few more points from his team, but the tournament results helped to point out just how tough 3A tennis can be. 

In first singles, Justin Ericksen defeated his first round opponent from Stansbury. Ericksen found the going fairly easy in the first set against his much taller foe, as the Stallion player seemed to really struggle to settle down and get any part of his game going. 

Justin was steady and hit some great shots, painting the lines and making his opponent scurry from one side of the court to the next en route to a 6-0 opening set.

The second set saw the Stansbury player begin to feel more comfortable but it was too late. Ericksen had his foe on the ropes and wouldn’t let him up. In spite of some big serves, North Sanpete’s Ericksen just kept counterpunching to secure the win with a 6-3 second set.

Ericksen went on to play in the second round at Liberty Park, but matched up against last years’ first singles champion from Juan Diego, Ryan Kempin. While Ericksen lost the match, 6-1, 6-1, he felt good about the way he played. Kempin went on to defeat all comers and took the state title yet again.

First doubles also found success in the first round of the tourney. Patrick Rawlinson and Jordan Ericksen started strong against their opponents from Ben Lomond, jumping up 5-2 before hitting a rough patch. 

The two Hawks found it difficult to close out the set and the Scots from Ben Lomond worked their way back into the match and forced a tie-breaker before Rawlinson and Ericksen stymied the comeback to win the first set, 7-6 (8-6).

The Hawk duo got serious in set number two and didn’t let the Ben Lomond players recover from the heartbreaking first set. Rawlinson and Ericksen closed the match out quickly, winning set two with a 6-1 score. 

North Sanpete doubles team also found themselves paired up against a team from Juan Diego in the second round of play and although they came painfully close to getting into the semifinal round, finally succumbed to the steady play of the Soaring Eagle, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.

In the other three slots Andy Workman lost to Dixie, 7-6, 6-2, in second singles, Ryker Ericksen dropped his third singles match to another eventual state champion from Juan Diego, 6-4 and 6-1, and Brenden Blackham and Benjer Palmer couldn’t overcome their Dixie opponent and lost, 6-4, 6-3.

Overall Coach Ericksen felt good about the year his team put together and was proud of their efforts to put a region trophy into the display case.