The favorites to win the South Puget Sound League Central Division boys tennis championship rolled through their first-half schedule unblemished. The Thomas Jefferson Raiders shut out Beamer Monday to move to 5-0 in the SPSL Central.
In total, the Raiders’ entire lineup has only dropped one point during their five matches in the SPSL Central Division. That came during a 4-1 win over Federal Way last week and the point came from the likely best tennis player in the state — Eagle sophomore Mitch Stewart. Jefferson’s four other SPSL wins have been 5-0 shut outs.
But even more impressive about the 5-0 victory over Beamer Tuesday afternoon, is the fact that it was the 400th win in the illustrious career of TJ head coach Andrew Buchan.
Buchan is in his 21st season as the coach of the girls and boys tennis programs at Jefferson and the 400 wins are a combined total between the two Raider teams.
Tuesday’s win over Federal Way was highlighted by one of the better singles’ matches of the young SPSL Central Division season, Jefferson’s Kainoa Rosa outlasted Beamer senior Joseph de la Cruz on the No. 1 court, 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.
The two state tournament veterans went back-and-forth during the entire match. In the opening set, Rosa looked as if he was going to walk away with the easy straight-set victory after cruising 6-2.
But de la Cruz, who has played singles at state the last two years, fought back in the second set to break Rosa’s serve and win the second set. But Rosa, who finished third at state last year in doubles, survived the third set to pick up the hard-fought victory.
The other four TJ wins Monday came in straight sets. Vivek Ramanujan beat Jimmie Stone, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 2 singles match, and Russell Stelzer and Cameron Martin pitched a shutout at No. 1 doubles, 6-0, 6-0.
Richard Ban and Tyler Hamashima won at No. 2 doubles, 6-2, 6-3, and Zach Martin and Paul Oh won 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 to complete the 5-0 TJ victory.
Golf
The Todd Beamer boys squeaked out a 72-67 victory over Jefferson Tuesday at Sumner Meadows. Beamer’s Justin Andes and TJ’s A.J. Seo shot matching 2-over par, 38s, to share medalist honors.
The Federal Way boys also earned a slim SPSL win Tuesday, 62-59, over Auburn Riverside. Travis Shaflik led the way for the Eagles with a 39 at Northshore.
On the girls’ side, the Decatur Gators remained unbeaten with a 156-137 win over Bonney Lake Tuesday at High Cedars. Freshman Celia Beyke fired an impressive 2-under, 34 to earn medalist honors. Her senior sister, Amanda, shot a 40.
Girls Soccer
Seventh-ranked Beamer remained unbeaten on the season with a 7-0 thrashing of Bethel Tuesday. The Titans (5-0-0) picked up a hat trick from Jasmine Brilliante and single goals from Jenna Floyd, Jenny Hoefel, Janell Carlson and Megan Anderson. Meghan Graf snared the shutout in net.
The Decatur Gators (2-3-0) snuck by the Enumclaw Hornets in a non-league matchup Tuesday, 1-0. The Gators’ lone goal came from freshman Kyla Lusink, who scored for the second match in a row.
Federal Way (1-2-1) lost a tough one to Curtis Tuesday, 2-1. The Eagles’ goal came from Gabriela Pelogi.
Girls Swimming
The Federal Way Eagles won the final event of their duel meet Tuesday to gain a big 85-84 victory over the Rogers Rams. The team of Ally Llewellyn, Emily Moneymaker, Erika Snure and Kenna Ramey won the 400-yard freestyle relay in 4:36.34 to ensure the one-point win.
The Eagles’ other victories came from Eva Barth in the 50 free (26.48), Ramey in the 100 free (55.95) and 100 backstroke (1:04.47), Marissa Meyer in the 100 butterfly (1:28.35) and Lynsey Yunker in the 100 breaststroke (1:21.87).
