Oh, you should have been in St. George this weekend!

Maple Mountain’s Varsity and JV tennis teams headed to St. George to play in the Duel in the Desert Tournaments. After match play on Day One, our JV and Varsity teams set the tone by establishing a 21 of 22 cumulative match winning streak. Junior Varsity players ended up playing each other on Day Two in the Doubles Finals with Collin Eaton/Justin Beary defeating teammates Braden George/Nick H. Taylor in the final for first and second place. Freshman Mckay Luu won 4 matches and fought hard in the finals losing to Park City in the singles championship taking home the Junior Varsity 2nd place medal.

The Varsity 14-team tournament in St. George Duel in the Desert was to prove out Golden Eagle Tennis. MMHS Boys Tennis Team is back even stronger than last year. MMHS first match of the season lined up with St. George home court advantage with Pine View. Maple Mountain boys made themselves right at home with a 5-0 win. Jordan Beetdiggers were the next team on the agenda and fell to MMHS losing to Maple Mountain 5-0 as well.

On Day 2 of tournament play, all of us knew it would be hair raising going into the semi finals against Dixie High School but MMHS walked out on the courts with victory in their hearts and minds and walked off with victory on the books 4-1 win--with Chris Wiscombe's strongest win of his career knocking off Dixie's number one, Brock Allred 2010 Region Champion and Finalist at last year's Tri Region. Chris beat him in a tiebreaker in the 3rd set with all the coaches chewing their fingernails off. That win advanced us to the finals against all-time great tennis school Park City High.

The Miners have proven in the past to be an exceptional tennis team winning multiple State Championships. Our Golden Eagles were undaunted. Our 1st Singles lost and came off the court first. Second Singles was down 2-5 in the first set. Second doubles team, Trevor Morey/Blaine Blonquist, undefeated throughout the tourney won their match in straight sets, putting the team score at one a piece. Our first Doubles team, Nick Taylor/Kevin Rose, also undefeated in the tourney walked off with a 3 set win. Third singles Ryan Porter who had been undefeated going into the finals played a grueling 3 set match and lost in the third. Score was now 2-2. The fate of the team match and the whole Duel in the Desert Tourney rested on our 2nd Singles player.

Calder Groberg was down 2-5 in the first set and was playing a State Champion level opponent. Calder fought back in the first to 6-6 and then lost the set in a tiebreak. Coach Whiting walked out on the court and asked Calder how he felt, "Strong Coach, I can play all day today and he is tired." Calder continued to put out on the court with precision volleys and explosive serving. Calder won the second set and the match went into the third and deciding set. Coach Whiting again walked out to get a feel for what his strategy would be and Calder asked how the rest of our team had done. "It is 2-2 not to put any pressure on you!" Calder smiled and said, "Good", I'm going to beat this kid.

Calder played out the final set cool as a cucumber taking risk on his serve hitting his second serve as hard or harder than his first. His energy and mental toughness paid off as he closed off a volley at the net and won the match. Coach Whiting had to turn his head so the team wouldn't see the tears in his eyes as he hugged Calder and turned to see the whole team running out on the court with a humongous team trophy to hand to Calder! Final Score MMHS 3 Park City 2.

A better start for the Golden Eagles is not possible. Keep your eye on this team!

Much thanks to Head Coach Kamryn Rose who organized every detail of the team and trip. Thanks to assistant coaches Steve Blonquist and Paul Whiting, and especial thanks to Gary and Lori Wiscombe for buying Café Rio Dinner for the whole team!