Madras tennis duo back at state

Juan Olivera and Matias Ruiz Jr. are back as state as a doubles team representing Madras High School at the 4A Oregon State Tennis Championships May 23-25 on the campus of Oregon State University.

After taking third at district last year and making the state tournament, Olivera and Ruiz finished second this year, losing in a tough finals match to Crook County pair Hoyt Kudlac and Caleb Decker 7-6, 6-4.

The MHS pair easily won their first two district matches, which were played in Richland, Washington, beating a Umatilla team 6-1, 6-0 in their opener then beating a pair from The Dalles 6-1, 6-2.

The two wins earned them a spot in the semis. Crook County High School hosted the final rounds of the district tournament.

In their semis match, Olivera and Ruiz came back to beat Crook County pair Iker Layunta and Alvaro Coca 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Kudlac and Decker nearly didn’t even make the semis. In one of their matches in Washington, they barely beat an Irrigon team, 7-5, 2-6, 11-9. In their quarterfinal match against the No. 2 doubles team from Madras, Isidro Olivera and David Diaz, the Cowboy team won the first set just 6-4, but then found their rhythm with a 6-0 second set victory. They then beat fellow Crook County players Evan Wood and Gregory Hubble 6-2, 6-4 in the semis to earn a shot at the title.

In Kudlac and Decker, the Buffalo duo was facing a team that had only lost once all season, and that to a 5A pair, but the Madras boys gave them all they could handle.

The first set was square at 6-6 and went to a tie-breaker, and the Cowboys took the set 7-6 (4). The second set was also tight, but the Crook County players took a 6-4 win.

But the Buffalo pair, by taking second, earned a trip to the state tournament.

Other Buffs to make the second stage and district didn’t fare as well. No. 1 singles player Fernando Saldana lost to the eventual champion, Marcos Munoz of Crook County, 6-1, 6-3. Fernando eventually took fifth and will be an alternate for state.

In girls singles, the Buffs’ No. 1 entrant, Mia Mitchell, had to face eventual champion Juhree Kizziar of Sisters in the quarterfinals and lost 6-0, 6-1.

The top four finishers in district earned berths at state.