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FAIRBANKS — The Hutchison Hawks, two days after upsetting of the 2007 Mid Alaska Conference champion West Valley Wolfpack, overcame a tough boys No. 1 singles loss to defeat the Monroe Catholic Rams 5-2 in a conference tennis dual meet Wednesday at the Dan Ramras Community Tennis Courts.

Monroe’s Eric Ringstad pulled out a 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 (tiebreaker) decision over Chris Poole in the boys No. 1 match and the Hawks responded with four straight wins.

Nick Raugust topped Dan Bunten 6-3, 6-2 in the boys No. 2 singles battle, and Mike Walker and Nico Wehner rallied in boys doubles with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-4 (tiebreaker) effort against Jim Winfree and Tyler Hill.

Hutchison swept girls singles, as Kelsey Peterson downed Eilish Saunders 6-0, 6-2 in the No. 1 match and Kayla Robertson took a 6-2, 6-3 win over Meg Jones at No. 2.

Monroe won in girls doubles with Kelsea Hewitt and Christin Davis landing a 6-0, 6-1 decision over Rachael Wright and Miranda Jenkins. Hutchison’s Dan Powers and Allie Parra prevailed 6-5, 6-4 over Joe Byrnes and Cassie Ringstad in a mixed doubles match that featured long rallies.

Hutchison, winner of three straight dual meets, raised its season record to 4-3, while Monroe dropped to 3-5.

Malemutes go 7-0

Seven was a good number on Wednesday for the Lathrop Malemutes, as the unbeaten tennis team earned its seventh win of the season with a 7-0 victory over the Eielson Ravens.

Eielson’s Thomas Baldwin gave Lathrop its toughest test before the Malemutes’ Max Hesser-Knoll emerged with a 1-6, 6-1, 8-6 (tiebreaker) win in the boys No. 2 singles match.

“Thomas really played with confidence and was good at the net in the first set, and Max came back and really played well in the second set,’’ Eielson assistant coach Becky Harger said by telephone.

Lathrop collected wins by forfeit in boys No. 1 singles and boys and girls doubles.

Mackenzie Calvillo won 6-0, 6-3 over Amber Harger in the girls No. 1 singles match and Malemutes teammate Annelise Bachelder was a 6-1, 6-2 winner against Amanda Williams in the No. 2 contest.

Lathrop’s pairing of Amanda Lien and Kade Fitzgerald won in straight sets, 6-0, 6-0, over Krystal Madison and Taylor Jacobs in mixed doubles.

Eielson (0-7) visits North Pole at 2 p.m. Saturday and Lathrop is off until facing Monroe Catholic at 3:15 p.m. Monday at the Ramras Courts.

Valdez tops Monroe

Monroe Catholic discovered first-hand on Wednesday just how good Valdez is at volleyball.

The Rams now face more dubious tasks — they meet the Buccaneers in another Aurora Conference matchup tonight and in their West Valley Invitational opener on Friday.

“They’re a very smart team. They’ve played together for a number of years,” Monroe coach Mike Lessley said, adding that the 3A school is capable of winning the 10-team Invitational. “There’s so much pride in the sports that (Valdez plays).”

Valdez overwhelmed host Monroe 25-10, 25-12, 25-3 on Wednesday.

“Our serve receive wasn’t very strong. We just made too many unforced errors,” Lessley said. “It’s good to play a team with the caliber of Valdez because it shows us what we need to work on.”

Winless Monroe was not without its bright spots, however.

Junior twins Sierra and Mariah Minder were strong at the net while Katie Young was solid serving and in the middle. Setters Melissa Lynch — a freshman playing in her first varsity match — and Emma Young also held their own, Lessley said.