Visiting Kentwood raised its Class 4A South Puget Sound League North boys tennis record to 3-0 with a 5-0 team match win at Mount Rainier on Tuesday, Sept. 13. The host Rams now stand at 1-2 league and 2-2 overall.
With Mount Rainier still adjusting due to inexperience on the varsity level and with players recently becoming eligible, the task of defeating the experienced Conquerors (second in the North last year) was truly difficult at this stage of the season. Kentwood graduated one player while the Rams lost five players to graduation from its fourth place team.
Kentwood's Nick Parmley and Jacob Kuhlman quickly took the measure of Phillip Samerack and Tyler Andrews in a 6-1, 6-0, No. 3 doubles win.
Senior Alex Noyes, who qualified for state last season, gave the Conquerors their second victory on Tuesday by outstroking senior Will Desmond 6-1, 6-2 in No. 1 singles. In this match up, the game scores were deceptive due to frequent long long rallies.
"I had fun today," Desmond said. "The score doesn't show how well I played. I need to be better at the big points. Being more fluid with my strokes is what I need to concentrate on. My goal is to get better on the bigger stage because I know I can play (competitively) against the better players."
The No. 2 doubles pairing of James Postlewait and Danny Bui put up strong resistance to Patrick Daly and Brain Jardine before the Kentwood duo emerged with a 6-1, 6-3, triumph.
"I thought it went pretty well," stated Postlewait. "Our serves were better in the second set."
Teammate Bui agreed.
"Our confidence improved and we were getting to more balls," he said.
Boechoel Shin grabbed a hotly contested first set 6-3 in No. 2 singles against the Ram senior Ramon Sharma before controlling the third set 6-1.
In the curtain dropping final match, Paul Lennick and Ryan Proffitt of Kentwood won the No. 1 doubles in two sets at love.
"Were improving a little bit, but we've got a ways to go," stated Mount Rainier coach Tim Lee, who is in his 26th year at the helm. "We've got three returning starters. Most of our players have had a couple of years on junior varsity. In moving up, they need to learn how to take the next step up in level. Our team is still adjusting. We're looking to be in the middle of the pack."
Returning seniors are Desmond, Sharma and Louie. Samerack is back for his sophomore year.
On Sept. 6, Mount Rainier opened league action with a 5-0 defeat to defending league tournament champion Kentridge. The Rams rebounded on Sept. 8 with a 3-2 home victory against Tahoma.
Desmond defeated Ethan Murray, 6-3, 6- while Sharmon outlasted Ben Garson 6-3, 6-3. The doubles tandem of Postlewait and Bui battled past Conner Cawthorn and Noah Adam 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 for Mount Rainier's clinching win.
