Ciaran Doyle is a Master's student at Cronkite/ASU School of Journalism assigned to cover Chaparral High School for AZPreps365.com

SCOTTSDALE- On Wednesday afternoon the Chaparral boys tennis team defeated Queen Creek, 8-1. The Firebirds, who are the No.2. ranked team in the state, went into the match missing two key seniors, No.1. and No.4 singles players Matteo Moss and Tyler Fellows.

Moss, the 2021 singles state championship runner-up, was a huge loss for the Firebirds. 

Despite this, Chaparral looked comfortable as the new No.1. player, Brooks Brown, dominated his matchup with consecutive 6-0 sets over Queen Creeks No.1. Corbin Hyman.

Brooks, a senior this season, was happy with his overall performance but thought his serving could have been better. 

"I had a horrible toss today," Brooks said. "I just made simple serves, I didn't really try to win my points with it."

Brooks wasn't the only Chaparral player to have a lot of success early and often. Freshman Reed Berbeco managed to defeat Queen Creek's Brock Hyman 6-0, 6-2 and looked good doing so.

Charly Rapin, Logan Price, and Jeremy Lee all won their respective singles matches in straight sets with none of them dropping more than two games in a set. 

The Firebirds won five of the six singles matches in the afternoon, the only hiccup being senior Ryan Leigh losing in the third tiebreaker set after splitting the first two hard-fought sets with the Bulldogs sophomore Tanner Fowler, 3-6, 7-6. Fowler managed to take the third set 11-9 in a grueling singles match that lasted over two hours in the hot Arizona sun.

Then, in the doubles matches, the Firebirds dominated again winning all three of the matchups fairly easily to make the final score 8-1.

First, it was Brooks Brown and Reed Berbeco who took down the Bulldogs' No.1. doubles team in impressive fashion, 8-0. That was followed up by an 8-2 win from seniors Charly Rapin and Jeremy Lee. 

In the final doubles game, Ryan Leigh was able to return to the win column with a dominant 8-1 display alongside sophomore Logan Price. 

Firebirds coach Cort Alcott was pleased with the win but already has his sights set on next Tuesday's matchup with Desert Mountain, the No 3-ranked team in the state. 

"They've always been very good," Alcott said. "I think they've beaten us for the past four or five years."

Before they face Desert Mountain in a very important matchup next Tuesday, the Firebirds must travel to play Boulder Creek on Thursday afternoon.

This win sees the Firebirds improve to 10-1 on the season, with three matches left before postseason play begins.