Boys' Tennis mauls Wheaton

APR 4, MONTGOMERY BLAIR HIGH SCHOOL --

The Blazer netmen trampled the Wheaton High School Knights, today, in their third 7-0 sweep of the season, raising the team record to 5-2. The losses came against Division I teams Whitman and Walter Johnson.

None of the four singles players (juniors Michael Price, Gordon Su, Maxsim Gibiansky, and Jason Liu) allowed their opponents more than three games through the entire match. Most notably, Price lost no games to first-seeded Wheaton player, Dean Sonetirot, winning 6-0, 6-0.

In the doubles arena, first pair junior Artem Rhykov and senior Sei-Wook Kim won 6-2, 6-0. Junior Kevin Chai and senior Ji-Heon Kim emerged with a 6-1, 6-1 win over their Wheaton counterparts, and on court three, sophomore Edward Hsieh and freshman Michael Tsai shut out their opponents, finishing with a 6-0, 6-0 victory.

The team was thrilled with their big win against Wheaton. "We're having a lot of fun. We've got a lot of spirit," said Chai as he and Ji-Heon Kim did their patented tennis victory dance.

Price was pleased with the team's performance. "We're not the best that we could be, but we're getting there. It's good that we beat RM, at least," he said. "Again, the key is doubles. They need to carry the team, and they're doing great."

Coach David Ngbea pointed out several problem areas for the team. He noted calming down, setting up before shots, and visualization as the keys to perfecting the team's service game, volleys, and ground-strokes. However, he was rather displeased with the team's general demeanor. "I don't feel like they were taking their matches seriously enough or like they were playing their very best. I don't care if we win or lose," he said, "but it's that desire to win that makes you run to the ball, that makes you hustle, that makes you pump up your partner, that gives you the power to come back against a tough opponent."

Price felt that the team was working well toward stepping up to the next level. "We hope to improve our consistency, so that we do not, as Ngbea says, 'beat ourselves.'"

Based on the season thus far, Blair shows great promise in terms of moving up to Division I. "Our main purpose is to sweep our division," Chai continued. "We deserve it; we've beaten at least half the Division I teams consistently." Tsai concurred, shouting, "Watch out Division II!"