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--> --> May 13: Zaslow upset bid comes up short; Grizz girls wrapup By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Two sets in the zone, two back on earth and one in the gutter. Just another day for Ari Zaslow. Ashland's top singles player had enough highs and lows to fill an entire season during the final day of the Southern Oregon Conference district tournament Saturday. But it ended with a low, as Zaslow threw in the towel - without actually defaulting - during a 6-4, 6-0 loss to second-seeded Reid Arthur of Klamath Union in the third-place match. Zaslow, the No. 3 seed, matched top-seeded Tyler Wilson of North Medford blow for blow in a three-set semifinal loss that proved to be the best match of the tournament, then tanked the second set against Arthur to settle for fourth place. It was a bizarre, but fitting end to Ashland's run at a district title. The Grizzlies, who entered the day with two doubles teams and Zaslow in the hunt for district titles, lost five of their six matches and ended up tied with Roseburg for second place in the team standings with 33 points. North Medford, led by Wilson's singles final win over teammate John Falath (No. 4 seed), successfully defended its team title with a final score of 38. "Tied for second is one step higher than the last couple years," said Ashland coach Dick Streng, "and I thought there were a few shots in the first singles match with Tyler and Ari that the outcome would have been on our racquet instead of theirs. We worked on a couple strategies since the last time (Zaslow) played Tyler, and they worked pretty well. We just missed a couple serves and maybe made one low-percentage shot, but (Zaslow) played great." The Grizzlies' lone win of the day came in the semifinals of the doubles tournament, where No. 1-seeded Evan Schleining and Kevin Spears outlasted Clint Russell and Drew Philips of North Medford, the No. 4 seed, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to advance to the finals. There, Schleining and Spears buried themselves beneath a heap of unforced errors in a 6-3, 6-4 loss to third-seeded Stewart Wetmore and Jared Schricker of Roseburg. Wetmore and Schricker earned their finals berth by defeating Ashland's Jacob Doty and Tyler Coke 6-2, 6-0 in the other semifinals. Doty and Coke, who upset the No. 2 seed in the second round, dropped the third-place match against Russell and Philips 6-1, 6-0. Each of Ashland's three semifinalists - two doubles teams and one singles player - advance to this week's Class 4A sate tournament, to be held Thursday through Saturday at the Tualatin Hills Tennis Center in Beaverton. Zaslow and the Doty-Coke team must win qualifying sub-round matches to make the main draw. Zaslow will open state at 1 p.m. Thursday against Noah Strycher of South Eugene. If he wins that, he'll face No. 2-seeded Cham Back of Beaverton in the first round. Doty and Coke open against Scott Erickson and Stefan Schearer of West Linn. If they win that, they'll face the No. 1-seeded team of Ric Mortera and John Bolton of Westview in the first round. Schleining and Spears, unseeded and playing in the same quarter of the bracket as the No. 3 seed and the No. 6 seed, will take on unseeded Bo Williams and Chris Meyer of McMinnville in the first round. Zaslow lost in straight sets to Wilson during the regular season, but had a different game plan this time around, playing the role of the ultimate counter-puncher. It worked. Zaslow kept every ball in play, attacked the short balls and blasted five aces while taking the first set 6-2. He then dropped a quick second set 6-3, but regained his confidence by going up 3-0 behind an early break in the third. Zaslow seemingly had all the momentum at that point and was playing his best tennis of the tournament, but his opponent stayed cool. "I knew I could come back," Wilson said afterward. "I was down one break, so I just needed to hold serve at 0-3, then once I broke I was back on serve. Three-love like that is just kind of different. It looks like a lot, but it really isn't because it's only one break of serve." Wilson did hold serve, then broke to close the gap to 3-2. His second break two games later gave him a 4-3 lead, but Zaslow broke right back to tie the set at 4. That gave Zaslow a chance to take a 5-4 lead on-serve, and put the pressure back on Wilson. He couldn't do it. Wilson broke Zaslow at love, then held serve to finish it. His service winner at 40-15 brought an end to the two-hour affair and all but clinched North Medford's team title. "I played well, I can't complain," Zaslow said. "It was just a few points that decided the match and they went his way. He played good tennis." Good tennis from the Grizzlies was a little sparse from that point on. As Zaslow dropped the first set to Arthur, Schleining and Spears were calling for a line judge in the doubles final. And, a few minutes after Schleining asked that line judge to call foot faults, Zaslow requested a line judge of his own. None of it made a difference. Shortly after the doubles final was in the books, Zaslow started to lose control of his match. Then, down 4-0 in the second set, he appeared to lose all interest and spent the rest of the contest jogging and swinging half-heartedly. At one point, Zaslow was in position to return a short lob, but opted instead to go for the between-the-legs back-to-the-net trick shot. The match ended with three consecutive Zaslow double faults. "Couple days here (before state) we'll work on the game face and the game attitude," Streng said, "and playing a little bit harder when things don't go our way." AHS Girls Tennis At Medford, behind a pair of semifinal victories by Justine Bowen-Jones and the doubles team of Ali Gardiner and Jessica Baker, the Grizzlies finished third in the Southern Oregon Conference district tournament Saturday at North Medford High's Varsity Courts. North Medford scored 37 team points to take the title, Roseburg was second with 34 and the Grizzlies finished with 29. Bowen-Jones shocked the top-seed, Stacy Wetmore of Roseburg, in the semifinals, then lost in the finals in straight sets to second-seeded Becky Correll, also of Roseburg. Gardiner and Baker, the No. 2 seeds, lost in the finals 6-1, 6-2 to Annie Chaney and Shannon Leever, the No. 1 seeds from North Medford. Bowen-Jones, a junior, will open the state tournament Thursday at the Portland Tennis Center against Melissa Olson of Southridge. Gardiner, a junior, and Baker, a senior, will open state against Angie Bloyer and Sheena Surplus of Gresham, also on Thursday at the Portland Tennis Center. 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