North Medford's Collynn Dungan returns a serve against South Medford's Jackson Rasmussen during Monday's tennis match at North Medford High.

After having no organized practices over spring break, the South Medford boys tennis team wasted no time getting back in the swing of things Monday afternoon.

South Medford rolled in and swept all eight matches against host North Medford in the Southwest Conference dual, with junior Antonio Perez-Cansino headlining the day in the top-ranked singles match.

Perez-Cansino carved out a 6-0, 6-1 victory over North Medford’s Taylor Fuller and looked fresh doing it despite the match being his first in almost two weeks.

Since last year’s SWC district meet, the junior took nearly a year off to deal with tennis elbow tendinitis in his right arm. He has played sparingly so far, with the injury flaring up two weeks ago when South Medford traveled north to play Sheldon and South Eugene.

However, that hasn’t slowed down Perez-Cansino’s spirit, crediting his competitiveness and goal of making state for the first time to keep himself focused.

“I just love tennis and I am very passionate about it,” said Perez-Cansino. “I always want to compete, I never want to pass up on the opportunity.”

“There is not much to reflect about today except that I am coming back from injury,” he added. “I’m just trying to come back more and more slowly so that I don’t reaggravate it.”

Panthers boys tennis coach Nolan Richard has been impressed with Perez-Cansino’s competitiveness and mental strength to overcome the injury.

“He is just a winner that keeps even with anyone,” said Richard. “He always is figuring out their weaknesses and finds a way to get in a good shot.”

And with Perez-Cansino controlling the singles, the Panthers saw Ethan Berg and Craig Israelsen survive with a 5-7, 6-4, 10-2 comeback win in the No. 1 doubles match.

The Black Tornado duo of Nick Doshier and Dallin Spence played close to taking the match but ran out of steam in the tiebreaker set.

“South is a pretty good team all-around,” said North Medford boys tennis coach Dave Vistaunet. “It was nice for (Doshier and Spence) to come away with the first set, I think it boosted their confidence and let them play well the rest of the match.”

“I felt like they did a good job, they had some good communication, too,” he added. “But sometimes the tides change, South just had its way in the tiebreaker.”

After losing the first set, coach Richard was happy to see Berg and Israelsen fight through the early adversity.

“I just love seeing close matches,” said Richard. “I think it’s a great experience for the kids to win or lose to just have those moments where they have to play that close.”

“It takes great resilience to win a split set like that,” he added. “It’s always demoralizing to see someone else win the first set, so I was impressed how they hung in there.”

SINGLES: Antonio Perez-Cansino, SM, d. Taylor Fuller, 6-0, 6-1; Jackson Rasmussen, SM, d. Collynn Dungan, 6-0, 6-0; Bennett Rasmussen, SM, d. Tanner Spence, 6-0, 6-1; Crew Allard, SM, d. Mason Blake, 7-6, 6-2.

DOUBLES: Ethan Berg-Craig Israelsen, SM, d. Nick Doshier-Dallin Spence, 5-7, 6-4, 10-2; Seth Davis-Hayden Allen, SM, d. Kayson Van Meter-Remy Kueny, 6-0, 6-3; Jake VonStrahl-Dawson Hill, SM, d. Oscar Meza-Calvin McGary, 6-2,6-1; Darren Burnseson-Austin Neville, SM, d. Archer Aduna-Logan Saunders, 6-4, 6-3.

Girls Tennis

SOUTH MEDFORD 8, NORTH MEDFORD 0: South Medford enjoyed a spotless sweep of visiting North Medford, powered by Reese Andersen and Mina Wadnizak each having clean 6-0, 6-0 sweeps in the top two singles spots in a Southwest Conference contest.

SINGLES: Reese Anderson, SM, d. Anna Uffens, 6-0, 6-0; Mina Wadnizak, SM, d. Hayley Chung, 6-0, 6-0; Ellie Woolf, SM, d. Chloe Olivier, 6-1, 4-0; Ellie Buchta, SM, d. Natalie Penner, 6-1, 6-0.

DOUBLES: Abi Lewis-Annabelle Elliot, SM, d. Rachel Rustad-Mo Mendez, 6-2, 6-1; Birkley Maddox-Lily Williams, SM, d. Nayeli Castillo-Michelle Bui, 6-0, 6-1; Josie North-Keana Settle, SM, d. N/A, 6-4, 6-1; Izzy Brooksby-Camden Allen, SM, d. Chloe Bell-Eirinn Minihan, 6-1, 6-0.