Eagles pull out a close one — All eyes on doubles team Josephsen and Randall to get win, pull into Wesco third-place tie

Arlington tennis coach Shawn Cunningham could hardly wait for the Sept. 30 rematch with Marysville-Pilchuk to end.

By Travis Sherer • October 1, 2009 2:34 pm
Arlington singles player No. 3 Marty Thordarson backhands a return from Marysville's C.J. Nearman on his way to a 6-1
Arlington singles player No. 3 Marty Thordarson backhands a return from Marysville's C.J. Nearman on his way to a 6-1



ARLINGTON — Arlington tennis coach Shawn Cunningham could hardly wait for the Sept. 30 rematch with Marysville-Pilchuk to end.

In fact, with Wesco postseason implications hanging in the balance, both Cunningham and his counterpart, Marysville-Pilchuk coach Robert Sherry, paced on opposite sides of the Arlington chain link fence that surrounded the third doubles pairing between Arlington’s Brent Thompson and Matt Peiffle, and Marysville’s and Sam Josephsen and Jared Randall. With a 3-3 tie overall thus far, the match came down to the remaining foursome.

“This is big for us,” Cunningham said. “It means the difference between being right at the top of the league, or being lost in the middle.”

At more than one point, the Arlington crowd thought the match was over and drew large cheers and fist pumps, only to watch play continue and a feeling that closing out this win wasn’t going to happen before the sunset.

To add to the drama, a scoring mistake left the two pairings needing to replay a tie-breaker. But in the end, Thompson and Peiffle limited mistakes and won 6-2, 6-7 (7-3), catapulting Arlington to a 4-3 win, a 6-4 record and a tie with M-P for third place.

“We’re having a good year so far and to see these guys pull out a win like this is another step forward,” Cunningham said.

Overall, Wednesday’s match was playing out quite similar to that of Sept. 9, where the Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but the result was a 3-4 defeat. Cunningham witnessed his boys win a pair of singles and a doubles match early, but Marysville evened the score with a couple of late surges.

“We were able to get some wins early and hold on. Our singles players are really playing the tennis they are capable of.”

Also winning for the Eagles was No. 2 singles player Austin Taylor, who defeated Shane Price 6-1, 6-0, and Marty Thordarson won against CJ Newman 6-1, 6-2. Arlington’s other win was No. 3 doubles team Josiah Aylesworth and David Taft-Farren, who orchistrated a comeback to defeat Andrew VanderStoep and Chris Rasmussen 6-3, 7-5.

“It was nice to see those guys fight back and win like that. Being down 5-2 in the second set is not something that can be easily overcome.”

Click here for more photos.