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Raider tennis had a rough first weekend of district play, with many losing in close matches. Phoenix Shephard ran the gauntlet and will be moving on to this week's double elimination round of district play.

He soundly defeated Josh Frey of Liberty Bell 6-0, 6-1, then played Xavier Valladares, in heat that had Shephard guzzling water before this match, Head Coach Steve Archer said.

Shephard lost the first set to Valladares 7-5, then won the second.

In the third set with the score knotted up at 3 all, Valladares fell to the ground with an apparent knee injury, forfeiting to Shepard by injury default.

In his third match of the day, Shephard took the early lead, but Chelan’s Matt Robinson slowly came back and won the first set 6-3, then took the second from a tired Shephard 6-0.

Shephard will take on Greg Sklar of Omak in an elimination match Saturday.

”Phoenix and Greg played one time early in the season,” Archer noted, “and Phoenix lost in a match that was decided in a tie-breaker. It promises to be a close match. If Phoenix wins his next three matches, he qualifies for state competition.”

In other action last Saturday, the boys’ doubles teams both lost close matches. Daniel Campobosso and Brandin Smith forced a third set but ran out of gas.

Hayen Rodrigues played Jaden Smiley of Chelan in singles action, and suffered another minor injury early in the first set. Rodrigues fought back with the injury but still lost in a match that Archer said was closer than the 6-2, 6-2 score suggests.

On the girls’ side Meagan Mellamy lost to Megan Turner of Cashmere 6-0, 6-0.

In doubles action, Hillary Carriere and Emily Williams won their first match against Spencer/Swersenson of Entiat in four sets 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3).

They moved on to the second round where they faced Beyers and Monroe from Tonasket who were seeded third in the tournament and lost 6-0, 6-0.