May 28—It’s hard enough to win a state title playing against an opponent with a healthy amount of competitive disdain. “Us against them” is a tried and true coaching philosophy for a good reason.
But it’s even harder when you’re face to face against friends and teammates.
That was the case in the State 4A boys tennis doubles championship on Saturday, when two teams from Mead battled at the Pacific Campus in Kennewick.
When Robbie Wrigley and Peter Farley topped Josh Knaggs and Nate Shannon 7-6 (2), 6-4 to take the doubles title, everybody won — and Mead’s boys team joined the girls team in placing second overall at state.
“The moment that we had a Mead-Mead final secured, I told the guys, ‘This is our encore right now, let’s just go have fun,’ ” Mead boys coach Bryce Borland said. “I could not have asked them to do better.”
“It’s amazing. This moment’s what we’ve trained for,” Farley said. “We put a lot of work in. I think we just deserve it for the work we put in.”
It was the third time that teams within the team faced off with high stakes — they played each other at subdistricts and districts as well — with Wrigley and Farley emerging victorious each time.
“It just kind of speaks volumes to the depths of the program that we have going on here,” Knaggs said. “We hit with these guys all the time, so we know kind of the ins and outs of how they play and everything. It definitely makes it more competitive when we play.”
“It is a little bit annoying to play against your teammates in the final. But at the same time, it was really cool that both of us were in the final as well,” Farley said. “We treat each other well, we have respect for each other, but we both want to win. And we’re both glad we were there in the first place.”
“I will say this team is, if nothing else, ambitious. And then they set the goal in our preseason meeting,” Borland said. “And the girls, we knew that they had a lot of people in depth, but they just really snuck in points here and there with good play. … The girls did the work, and it showed.”
When the state bracket came out, all parties were relieved to see the two Mead teams on opposite sides, meaning if they continued to win they would not meet until the state championship match.
“We did kind of what we wanted. We got the double Mead final, so we accomplished that. So it’s kind of just extra, whoever got first place,” Shannon said.
“It was definitely kind of a moment of relief, because we knew … they’d be our biggest competition,” Knaggs said. “And so being on opposite ends (of the bracket), it was like, yeah, there’s a chance that we can maximize our points, which would be what we were shooting for.”
“I think we all knew it was possible, but in all of our bingo cards, none of us had a Mead final going,” Borland said. “When we made it to the semifinals that’s when we really started to ask the question, is this possible? The guys showed up, they did the work, and they deserved it.”
Obviously, the teams trained with and against each other all season, learning each other’s strengths — and weaknesses — over the grind.
“A lot of us are really competitive, so it’s, like, tense — but not in a bad way,” Wrigley said. “We all want to get better, so it’s competitive.”
“Practice is the most competitive, because we kind of know that this is the best (team) we’re going to be playing, so it’s our opportunity to test each other,” Shannon said. “I was least stressed out about (the final) match than I had been about a match all year. It was just for fun.”
It was a big win for both programs, and for East Side tennis in general. Borland said fellow Greater Spokane League teams, as well as Mid-Columbia Conference teams, were cheering his team on at state.
“We are not enemies. We are allies on the path to play the West Side, and that really came through at state,” he said. “A month ago teams we were competing against, is now in this collective brotherhood of East Siders.”
“Peter and I knew a lot of the guys we were playing from club stuff,” Wrigley said. “I think definitely there was some underestimation, for sure. … But I think it makes the whole east side of the state look good.”