By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

KENT - Veteran savvy ranged the length and breadth of the tennis courts on Tues., Sept. 30, as the Mt. Rainier boys claimed a 5-0 SPSL 4A North win at Kent-Meridian High School to even their record at 3-3.

"We started a new week with a win," said Ram head coach Tim Lee. "After losing two in a row, we want to build a new winning streak."

Austin Sharma and Kevin Nguyen departed from the courts first with a 6-0, 6-0, No. 2 doubles victory against the Royal duo of Dylan Lam and Nate MacDonald.

Mt. Rainier's final three team matches are Wed., Oct. 2 at home against Federal Way, Thurs., Oct.2 at Kentlake plus home matches on Oct. 6 against Kentridge and Oct. 8 against Tahoma.

Once the first match win was posted, the Mt. Rainier victories were reported quickly, although the final, completed matches of the afternoon introduced elements of suspense.

Milan Crone and Danny Vujic followed up the Ram win in No. 2 doubles with a 6-2, 6-0, defeat of Stephan Van and Nirajan Pandy at No. 3 doubles. Then, came the official team match clincher in No. 1 doubles as Kepe Bonner and Tyler Andrews passed Paul Choi and Preston Agada, 6-1, 6-0.

"We just focused on poaching (running laterally to intercept cross court shots at net) more," said Andrews.

On the heels of the Bonner-Andrews triumph, Chase Michaelson worked hard to post a 6-4, 6-1, No. 2 singles win against a battling Jared Sims.
"I started hitting my ground strokes better," Michaelson said. "I also hit a better forehand and went to net more to get control."

In the last match to come off the courts, Sam Verbon of Mt. Rainier was forced to endure three sets against a game and hard hitting Andrew Karanga. Verbon controlled the first set on the way to a 6-1 win, but a late service break by Karanga gave him the second set at 7-5. As Karanga continued to hustle, Verbon tried to overcome his own issues of rushing and service toss in the super tie-breaker. The Royal player rallied from a 6-2 deficit to close within 6-5 before the Ram athlete ran off the next four points, ending with a service ace down the middle for game, set and match.

For Kent-Meridian Royal head coach Tim Scott, his background of teaching middle school tennis, most recently in Sumner, will be important with his young and mostly inexperienced group.

"Most of our players are beginners," he said. "Paul and Preston are our returners and are in their fourth year. Nirajan played a little, last year while Dylan, Nate and Stephan are all new. we are building. A lot of kids stick around after practice to hit balls. Andrew and Jared are good freshman."