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Doubleheaders aren’t just for baseball any more.

The West Valley Wolfpack swept a tennis doubleheader on Wednesday at the Dan Ramras Community Tennis Courts, first edging Monroe Catholic 4-3 before handling shorthanded Eielson 6-1.

“It has never happened,” West Valley coach Debbie Miller said of the back-to-back meets. “For some reason, we got scheduled two matches in the same day and I actually tried to change it.”

West Valley improved to 5-1 on the season but still trails undefeated Lathrop (5-0) in the Mid Alaska Conference standings.

Led by its boys singles play, Monroe gave West Valley a challenge in the first meet Wednesday afternoon.

The Rams’ Eric Ringstad beat Forest Owen 6-2, 6-1 at No. 1 while, in the match of the day, newcomer Dan Bunten topped Sean Markle 6-5, 3-6, 8-6 (tiebreaker) at No. 2.

But West Valley offset that by winning both girls singles matches as Loni Ellsworth topped Eilish Saunders 6-2, 6-2 at No. 1 and Teresa Larry handled Meg Jones 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2.

The Wolfpack also took boys doubles (Yu-Wei Chang and Logan Little defeated Joe Byrnes and Tyler Hill 6-4, 6-2) and mixed doubles (Jenna Powers and Lee Edwards topped Jim Winfree and Cassie Ringstad 6-2, 6-1).

Monroe’s other win came at girls doubles, where Kelsea Hewitt and Christin Davis defeated Aurora Roth and Caitlin Deutsch, 6-5, 6-3.

Playing this time with a full roster, Monroe improved dramatically from a 6-1 defeat against West Valley two weeks ago.

Against Eielson, only three matches were contested as the Ravens again had to forfeit four times due to a shortage of players.

West Valley swept the girls singles matches as Caitlin Deutsch defeated Amber Harger 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 and Jenna Powers beat Amanda Williams 6-0, 6-2 at No. 2.

Eielson’s Thomas Baldwin and Krystal Madison teamed up for the first time in mixed doubles, and the pairing was successful as they edged Yu-Wei Chang and Teresa Larry 6-2, 5-6, 7-2 (tiebreaker).

Lathrop tops Monroe

The Monroe Catholic Rams have yet to win a prep volleyball match this season, but their spirits remain high.

“Right now, the players are still upbeat because they can see the improvement each game,” Rams coach Mike Lessley said Wednesday. “They’re working hard. That’s all I ask.”

Class 3A Monroe slipped to 0-4 after falling to Class 4A host Lathrop 25-17, 25-10, 25-17.

“We did better on serve-receive but we still made some errors. We didn’t attack well tonight,” Lessley said. “Even though we lost, I thought we played very well. These girls are playing with a lot of heart.”

Bright spots for the Rams included Gabriella Gilbertson (10 digs), Katie Young (four blocks) and Jocelyn Ribar and Jessica Stokes (three kills apiece).

Monroe gets another chance for a victory tonight at home against Eielson.

Nanooks social

canceled

The Running Club North/Alaska Nanooks cross country team ice cream social scheduled for Friday has been canceled due to a scheduling conflict.

However, the Nanooks will host the Ester Dome 5K on Saturday at 11 a.m. beginning at the corner of St. Patrick and Ester Dome roads.

Contact the News-Miner sports department at 459-7581.