Blake Bulldozes Islanders
Ty Rushmeyer - Lakeshore Weekly News
May 5, 2008
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The Blake boys' tennis team has faced just five opponents this season.
But it is certainly making the most of it as the Bears have dominated in all five matches, the latest a 7-0 victory over DeLaSalle Tuesday, April 29 to move to 5-0.
Head coach Ted Warner said the weather has wreaked havoc on his team's season as they look to emulate the success they had last season, falling 4-3 in the state tournament final to St. Paul Academy.
"At this point, I'm just glad we got a match in. It's been very hard. We've got a lot of potential on this team but we still got a lot of work to do as we have only gotten in five matches," he said. "We had five matches canceled in the past week alone. I think we're a pretty good team right now. I think we can be a very good team if we can just get some matches in."
The Bears' solid 10 member lineup dominated DeLaSalle throughout Tuesday's match.
Blake flew through all seven matches, surrendering just 10 match points in the seven straight-set wins.
No. 1 singles Fred Zhang and No. 4 singles Kai Skallerud both took their matches 6-1, 6-0 over Alex Nagle and Justin Westad respectively while No. 2 singles Ford Traff trounced Fred Hunt 6-0, 6-0 and No. 3 singles Charlie Velie rolled over Peter Summers for the 6-0, 6-1 victory.
Blake was nearly just as dominant in doubles play.
The tightest match of the day was at No. 1 doubles where Trent Palmberg and Marc Massie took their match 6-2, 6-3 over Bernard Mitambo and Michael Rayford. George Humphrey and Will Hawkins cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Sam Turnberg and Edwin Llangari at No. 2 doubles and Sam Maritz and Blake Reichert triumphed 6-1, 6-1 over Jaime Caverno and Kyle Young at No. 3 doubles.
Warner said one of the best features of this year's team is its versatility as he searches for the best possible lineup, a process much delayed in this turbulent spring.
"We have so much versatility this season in what we can do. We've already had four singles guys in No. 1 in five matches," he said. "So I've rotated guys between singles and doubles trying to find out what the best combinations are. Ultimately it's not about them; it's about what gives us the best seven-point lineup. And we don't know what that is yet."
Reprinted with permission LakeShore News
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