BOYS TENNIS: Port Angeles’ Gelder gets past Sequim’s Little in title tilt

POULSBO — Port Angeles’ Reef Gelder upended tournament top seed Garrett Little of Sequim 6-4, 7-6 to claim the Olympic League boys tennis singles championship at North Kitsap High School.

Gelder, the Roughriders top singles player, entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed, having fallen to Little in two close regular season matches earlier this fall.

“Reef and Garrett have been playing well all season and it was no surprise to see them in the singles final. Reef played some of his best tennis of the year and was able to overcome a very high-quality player,” said Port Angeles coach Brian Gundersen.

Due to their regular season success, which included a shared Olympic League title, a whopping 13 Riders participated in the Olympic League tennis tournament on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Port Angeles also placed a doubles team in the championship match with seniors Edun Bailey and Jacob Miller.

The Rider duo finished in second place overall in the 16-team bracket and will move on to the Class 2A SeaKing/West Central District Tournament next week at Bremerton Racquet and Tennis Club.

“Edun and Jacob had a great tournament, ” Gundersen said. “They had an amazing comeback against Bremerton in the semifinals to get to the final and I’m excited to see what they do next week at districts.”

Poor air quality on Thursday moved the final consolation bracket matches to Port Angeles.

Nathan Basden, the Riders’ No. 2 singles player, was still alive in the tournament and competing to go to districts as the No. 5 seed at press time Thursday.

Other Port Angeles players competing in the tournament were:

Singles: Reid Schmidt, Matthew Miller, Austin Worthington.

Doubles: Elijah Flodstrom, Zak Alton, Luke Flodstrom, Tate Alton, Kellen Garcelon, Isaac Shamp.