BREMERTON — Port Angeles’ Nathan Basden and Luke Flodstrom won the District 3 boys tennis duos championship, coming from behind in the championship match at the Kitsap Athletic Club on Saturday against No. 1 seed Grady DeVries and Spencer Gillespie of North Kitsap.
Flodstrom and Basden, after winning two matches earlier in the District 3 tournament, got off to a slow start against DeVries and Gillespie, getting behind 4-0 in the first set. They stormed back to win six out of the next eight points, then won the tiebreaker to take the first set.
They had all the momentum in the second set, going on to win 6-3.
“Luke and Nathan have been on a mission since the first week of practice and I’m so happy for them. We had just lost to DeVries and Gillespie in the final of the Olympic League tournament, so witnessing the comeback in the first set and shutting the door in the second was so impressive,” said coach Brian Gundersen.
Earlier in the tournament, Basden and Flodstrom swept Nolyn Pence and Zain Gunter of Fife 6-1, 6-0 and beat Miles Ducharme and Jacob Patten of Fife 6-3, 6-1.
The Port Angeles team of Austin Worthington and Keatyn Hoch had a busy weekend, playing in six matches and going 3-3, falling one match short of qualifying for state as alternates.
Worthington and Hoch split with two Fife teams, beat teams from Franklin Pierce and Eatonville in straight sets, then lost to Mason Repp and Justin Gallant of North Kitsap in the fifth round 6-4, 6-1. In a match to determine an alternate to state, they lost to Rocco Targett and Aiden Reister of North Kitsap 6-4, 6-2.
Playing in the singles tournament, Tate Alton lost to Brody Thiryacre of Eatonville 6-1, 7-6 and lost to Garner Hall of Bainbridge 7-6, 6-2.
The state boys tennis tournament is in the spring. One complication for Basden and Flodstrom is that they are both members of the Port Angeles baseball team and there could be scheduling conflicts if the Riders baseball team makes state.
