by Mark Watson

SPORTS EDITOR

Tooele's first singles player Matt Wihongi won three of his four matches at the region tournament last week to qualify for the 4A state tournament this weekend at Liberty Park. He was the only Tooele player to qualify for state.

Wihongi, who entered the tournament with a 4-8 region record and seeded fifth, upset Mountain View's Gorge Encinas 6-1, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round.

Encinas entered the tournament with a 7-3 record. Wihongi lost to region champion Tanner Perry of Timpview in the semi-finals 1-6, 1-6, but then easily defeated Payson's Brenden Warren 6-0, 6-1.

In his fourth match of the tournament, Wihongi faced Encinas for the second time with third and fourth place on the line. The match went another three sets with Wihongi winning 6-1, 6-7, 6-1.

He will play at the state tournament on Friday at Liberty Park at 11:30 a.m.

"Wihongi played some great tennis with the upset. In fact, all our players played well with some close matches," said coach Derek Smith.

At second singles Dylan King lost to Springville's Andrew Whiting 6-7, 1-6. He then lost to Mountain View's Cole Burr 1-6, 1-6.

At third singles Eric Gutowski lost two hard fought battles to Provo's Nathaniel Gates 6-4, 4-6, 3-6 and Springville's Taylor Bankhead 5-7, 4-6.

Tooele's first doubles team of Jordan Knighton and Russell Johnson went 1-2 at the tourney with a first-round loss to Springville's Rymer and Wiscombe 4-6, 4-6, a victory over Payson's Finlinson and Brockbank 3-6, 3-6 and a loss to Orem's Lloyd and Lee 2-6, 2-6.

At second doubles Tooele's Austin Jasper and Austin Jensen lost to Provo's Porter and Chadburn 2-6, 2-6 and to Orem's Moody and Peterson 3-6, 5-7.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com