North Bend senior Cody Ferguson follows through on a serve during a match against North Eugene earlier this season. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

Cody Ferguson’s quiet demeanor can be deceiving.

Underneath the North Bend senior’s unassuming personality is a fierce competitor, and his record speaks for itself: He’s 13-1 in singles matches this year, and the 2005 3A/2A/1A state champion.

“I don’t really like to lose,” said Cody simply. “Competition is my favorite part (of tennis).”

Cody won his state title as a freshman, a season in which he went undefeated and the Bulldogs swept the state singles honors, as then-sophomore tennis phenom Kelcy McKenna took care of business on the girls side. Cody had close ties with McKenna — who won three more state titles and now plays for Arizona State. The two regularly worked out together throughout the three years they were both at North Bend.

“She was better, she always won,” said Cody. “It made me work harder.”

Cody’s grandfather turned him on to tennis at the age of 12, and he now spends 12 to 14 hours a week fine-tuning his game. For his part, the Bulldog senior never thought it would amount to a state title and a pair of district championships.

“I never had any clue. I just went out and played,” he said.

Cody’s strengths are his quickness, a scorching backhand, the ability to place the ball all over the court and solid tennis smarts, and he’s been putting some serious time in on his serve.

“He’s a smart player, and his serve’s improved quite a bit this year,” said North Bend Boys tennis coach Dustin Hood. “He just finds a way to win.”

Yet, as Cody has shown steady growth as a tennis player, his second state title has proved elusive, a fact that has a lot to do with a guy by the name of Scott Morse. Cody has only beaten Morse — a 6-foot-6 junior from Cascade Christian whose serves have been clocked at upwards of 130 miles per hour — once in three years, in a close three-set match in 2006 to take his second district championship. Morse took the first set 6-1, but Cody bounced back with 7-5 and 6-2 wins to earn the district trophy.

“That was impressive,” said Hood of Cody’s only win over Morse. “I’ve seen Cody come back from a lot of big losses in first sets.”

Morse defeated Cody in the state title match that year, however, and every time they’ve played since. Morse also handed Cody his only loss of the season this year, in a 6-1, 6-0 District 3 championship match May 7.  

 So, the path back to another state title for Cody seems to run through Scott Morse. He’s kept any prospective strategy for playing Morse simple.

“I need to be a little more consistent, and keep rallies going longer,” said Cody, who then stopped to think for a minute. “I just try to play.”

But Cody has a couple of matches to get past before seeing what would be his final shot at the reigning state champ for two years running, as Morse is on the other side of the bracket. Cody enters the state tournament as a No. 4 seed this year, and he’s drawn Bryce Marvin of Vale High School in the Eastern Oregon League in the first round of the tournament, which is scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Eugene Swim & Tennis Club. Cody takes the court Friday morning.

As for preparing for the state competition, Cody doesn’t have any elaborate rituals. So what does the low-key Bulldog star do before a big match?

“Stretch,” he said. “I don’t have any superstitions or anything.”

After the state tourney, Cody’s unsure about his future plans, tennis or otherwise, although he said he will probably attend the University of Oregon.

“I’ll probably play tennis as recreation,” he said. “I’ll miss the competition, though.”