Vernon players took titles in four categories at the Lakeview Heights Open Tennis Tournament last weekend in West Kelowna.
Jeremy Bell of Vernon, who won both the 5.0 singles and 5.0 doubles titles in 2014, was trying to successfully defend those titles.
His rivalry with his doubles partner continued as he met West Martin-Patterson of Salmon Arm, in the 5.0 singles semifinal, losing in straight sets.
Martin-Patterson’s strong play continued as he won the 5.0 singles title with a 2-1 (2-6, 6-4, 6-3)victory over Kristian Kiland, who plays tennis for Doane College in Nebraska but resides in Prince George.
In the 5.0 singles consolation final, Vernon’s Joe McFadden won 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 over Kelowna’s Joe Schaich.
The “PG Boys,” as Kristian Kiland and brother, Jim Condon, are often referred to, faced Bell and Martin-Patterson in the 5.0 doubles semifinal.with Kiland and Condon taking their first set off Bell and Martin-Patterson in a rivalry that has seen them meet six times over the past several years.
After splitting the first two sets, 6-2, 6-7, Bell and Martin-Patterson found their higher gear and took the final set with a decisive 6-2 score.
They went on to play Bob Langford of Salmon Arm and Jerome Lidster of Kamloops in the 5.0 doubles final. Bell and Martin-Patterson broke early on in their 6-3, 6-2 victory.
In other categories, Vernon players had lengthy and exciting matches. In the men’s 3.5/4.0 singles, MinSoo Han and Riku Komiya, both from Vernon and players on Fulton’s high school team, had to meet each other for the title.
They split sets and the winner had to be decided in a ten-point tiebreaker which MinSoo took 10-7. MinSoo Han also won the 4.0 men’s doubles round robin sigh Vernon’s Loren Guenette. They outlasted Komiya and Pat Stich 10-8 in a tiebreaker.
