Thomas Jefferson’s tennis program has been dominant for the past several years. They come into the season with a streak of 60 consecutive league wins.
This year, the competition in the South Puget Sound League Central has closed the gap. While the increase in talent will test the Raiders, they may be affected even more by the departures from the team.
Jefferson lost 11 players to graduation from its varsity team a year ago. The 12th, Alex Chan who finished third in the state tournament last season, elected not to play for the Raiders this year.
It will be a fresh slate of faces for the Jefferson varsity squad as they try to maintain their streak.
On Tuesday they opened their season with a non-league game against Mount Rainier. Last season, the Rams finished 7-7 overall and fourth in the South Puget Sound League North.
The Raiders fell to the Rams 4-1.
Not all members of Jefferson’s team were eligible to play due to not having enough practices. Many of the members who played were not playing in the positions they will for the majority of the season.
Jefferson’s No. 1 doubles team of Edward Park and Matthew Arnold were the only ones who may have their roles set in stone.
They matched up against Mount Rainier’s doubles team of Milan Crone and Julian Orint. The match was even to begin with, both teams trading games. Crone and Orint eventually heated up and took the first set 6-3.
The second set was less even as the Rams duo won the set 6-1 to win the match in straight sets.
The lone winner for the Raiders was Daniel Suh who defeated Xavier Martinez 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) in singles play.
Kory Byquist and Ben Healey had a back and forth match with Mount Rainier’s Danny Vujic and Jack Neer, but fell 4-6, 6-1, 10-6 in the end.
Mount Rainier’s Tamar Manvel defeated Brian Kim 6-4, 3-6, 13-11 in singles play. Alex Dunn and Abdi Sanga gave the Rams their fourth win with a 7-5, 6-2 victory over Solomon Kim and Connor Smith.
The Raiders opened league play Thursday against Todd Beamer.
Last season, the Titans finished second in the South Puget Sound League Central with 6-3 record overall and a 6-2 league record. Both league losses last season came against Jefferson.
