Jesse Schulz, left, and Josh Frey used their height to good advantage at the state tennis meet.
The Liberty Bell High School doubles team of Josh Frey and Jesse Schulz took seventh place at last weekend’s state tennis championships in Yakima, where teams from 1B, 1A and 2B schools competed in one meet.
The Mountain Lions duo started the tournament with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Zillah’s Pablo Medina and Ryan Anderson, which kept them in the winners’ bracket. In the second round, Frey and Schulz lost to Tyler and Dylan Sam of Charles Wright Academy, 0-6, 1-6. The Tam brothers went on to finish third in the tournament.
Still in trophy contention, the Liberty Bell team faced another team from Zillah — Jacob Cleveringa and Jared Ellis — and dispatched them, 6-1, 6-4. “They were more similar to us,” Liberty Bell coach Dave Schulz said. “You can tell the difference between the club players and the country players.”
That put the Mountain Lions into a match for fourth and seventh places. Frey and Schulz battled Connor and Collin Cremers of St. George’s, but fell, 3-6, 6-7 in a tiebreaker. Coach Schulz said the Mountain Lion team “just ran out of steam” in the St. George’s match.
The Liberty Bell boys drew a lot of attention for their height, the coach said. “Nobody but Charles Wright could get the ball by them,” he said. “They were awesome on overheads.”
