By Gerardo Bolong
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Nhat Trang and lefty Nghia Nguyen battled by Lucky Ruona and Max Ridgeway in the Sept. 25 final match under overcast, but dry conditions to earn Mt. Rainier a 3-2 NPSL 4A boys team tennis victory against visiting John F. Kennedy Catholic on court No. 1 in Des Moines.
The first set of the No. 3 doubles was a bruising encounter that the Rams finally won, 7-5, on a final point service break.
Mt. Rainier zoomed ahead for leads of 3-0 and 4-1 en route to the clinching 6-2 second set victory.
"After the beginning, we started to get better net play," said Trang. "I looked for openings off my partner's good shots from the back."
In a previous engagement, the Rams won a 3-2 tie-up at the Steve Cox courts with different matchups.
"With all the moves we made (on the lineups), we got the same final results," observed MR head coach Tim Lee. "We played well to get it."
It was Mt. Rainier grabbing the first team point with Julian Orint utilizing ground strokes abetted by aggressive net play.
After struggling to a 6-4 first set win against the Lancers' Patrick McGaughey in No. 1 singles, the Ram athlete stepped up the pace to lead 3-0 before closing out a winning 6-1 second set.
"I played better in the second set," said Orint. "I attacked more and came to net to finish points."
Playing together for the first time in two years, Coby Seaver and Riley Stevenson meshed their talents together in a two-set, 6-4, 6-2, No. 2 doubles defeat of Kennedy Catholic's Lucas Toltan and Joseph Conway. Solid baseline play by the Ram duo and effective volleys by Seaver keyed the triumph.
Sophomore Salvador Crockett got the Lancers into the win column in a 6-4, 6-3, No. 2 singles win versus Alex Dunn.
"I tried to tire him out by making him run and using spins," recalled Crockett. "Then, I just nailed the ball into spots."
Lancers Brendan Stoll and Hayden Wood forced the proceedings to rely on the final match by overcoming a 6-4 first set loss to rally back and win the final two sets, 6-3, 6-2, against Abbi Sanga and Lucas Orint in a No. 1 doubles comeback over Abbi Sanga and Lucas Orint.
"We're trying hard," said Kennedy Catholic head coach Viet Tran. "Mt. Rainier was better, today. My kids are getting better and need to keep working harder."
