Coupeville gives Friday Harbor a battle

Tasoff wins first singles, Knoll, Curtain doubles winners

Coupeville High School tennis coach Ken Stange said the match didn’t start out exactly the way he hoped it would, but the Wolves pulled things together and dropped a tight 3-2 decision to an experienced Friday Harbor team Thursday afternoon.

“Friday Harbor is sort of our ‘gold standard’ when we play them,” Stange said. “They are always tough and they didn’t graduate many players off last year’s team.”

Coupeville lost its number one and number two doubles matches and the Wolves were really in bad shape when Jordan Lamb lost the second singles match to Zack Milkis 6-4, 6-1.

However, things began to turn around when sophomore number one singles player Connor Tasoff stepped on the court to take on Friday Harbor’s Peter Duggins.

Tasoff put together a solid match both at the net and along the baseline that featured several long rallies, and beat Duggins 7-5, 6-4.

“This is the first time I’ve ever beaten him,” Tasoff said. “I played him in a tournament up in Friday Harbor last year and I lost 6-2, so this was an improvement. It was a lot of fun today and this is one of the best matches I’ve ever played.”

In the final match, Coupeville’s third doubles team of freshman Garrett Knoll and sophomore Travis Curtain went to three sets before defeating their Friday Harbor opponents.

“I was happy that the match ended up 3-2,” Stange said. “This year, our matches with Friday Harbor are going to be a lot closer. The way we played tonight, it’s something to work toward and hopefully next time we will be the winners.”