Serving up a title

Shelton's Jayden Lovingfoss and Wyatt Wagner won the Evergreen Conference boys doubles tennis tournament on Oct. 17 and 18 at Tumwater High School.

Lovingfoss and Wagner, both juniors, enter the district tournament at Club Green Meadows in Vancouver today and Friday as the No. 1 seed.

"It was pretty awesome," Lovingfoss told the Journal about winning the league championship. "I'm just so excited God's provided so many opportunities for me to play tennis and get to expand my game. It's a real honor to go out and play and have a lot of fun."

Lovingfoss has been playing since seventh grade, and Wagner only picked up tennis since beginning high school.

"He was playing so I was like, we're the same grade, we can play doubles all the way through," Wagner told the Journal.

"My brother (Brendan) was playing and he loved it and said I should do it so that's why I'm here."

Wyatt and Jayden's mothers are sisters, and that family connection helps on the court.

"I've been playing with Wyatt since my freshman year. We've pretty much grown up together, that definitely helps," Lovingfoss said. "We definitely talk a lot on and off the court. I'm definitely more vocal. I'm the guy that gets loud and screams on the court and stuff and Wyatt is usually pretty reserved, but it makes us a good team."

The two have improved their skills on the court together. Last year, they finished third in the league tournament and took fifth at districts and were the first alternate to the state tournament, should another team be unable to play. This year, they enter the district tournament as the top seed.

"We're just going to try to make it to the next level and try to get a feel for the state tournament," Lovingfoss said. "We're not really sure what the competition will be like, it's usually higher level so we might drop a set or lose a match or something but I think we can definitely make it to state."

If they do make state, they will have to wait seven months until the state tournament at Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle on May 26 and 27. Wagner is a baseball player, and said he hopes that a decision won't have to be made, because baseball is his preferred sport.

During that time off should they make state, Lovingfoss will be training for tennis, swimming in the winter to stay in shape.

"It's definitely weird because you have such a long break so it's hard because Wyatt doesn't play tennis in the offseason," Lovingfoss said. "His game gets down a little bit, but I play year round so I get better and the other guys that make it to state keep getting better but it's just this weird transition where if you play another spring sport and you make it to state in that, then you have to choose. It can be tough that way."

Wagner is going to rely on his baseball training to help him be ready for a potential state tournament.

"It'll be hard to mix in tennis because you've got to train very hard for baseball, but I'm sure he'll be driving me in here to get practice and stuff," Wagner said. "I think it will be fine."

Wagner said he will most likely be done with tennis after high school and already has a scholarship offer to play baseball in college. He is going to enjoy the ride this year and playing tennis with his cousin for two more years.

"It's really awesome. I never thought that I would probably get here, but having him as my doubles partner is great because he's playing all the time so I just kind of rely on my baseball training to get me through," Wagner said. "All of it helps, eye-hand coordination probably the biggest thing, being able to run fast and track down balls, basically the same concept. Playing tennis is so much fun and getting to play with him is just a bonus. It's great, baseball is an intense sport so playing tennis is kind of like a break. I get to just relax and play, but getting to actually play this competitively, it's really fun."

Lovingfoss has aspirations to play in college and he just sent in a recruitment form to George Fox University in Newburg, Oregon. For now, he's going to focus on making the state tournament.

"I like the grind," Lovingfoss said. "It's fun to get on the baseline and hit hard balls with other people."

Author Bio

Matt Baide, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
Email: [email protected]

• Email: [email protected]