SPSL NORTH BOYS TENNIS: AT A GLANCE<\/b><\/p>\n
\u2022 FAVORITE:<\/b> Kentridge.<\/p>\n
\u2022 CONTENDERS:<\/b> Kentwood, Auburn.<\/p>\n
\u2022 NOTABLE:<\/b> Like girls swimming and golf, the South Puget Sound League has been divided into a third division for boys tennis, a sport that begins in the fall and wraps up in the spring. The North is comprised of the four Kent School District teams, along with Tahoma and Auburn. Despite the re-shuffling, which is in a one-year trial period, the SPSL North is still almost ridiculously loaded with top-heavy talent. Kentwood senior Max Manthou remains the toast of the league. A three-time state champion and a fearless competitor, Manthou will be aiming for his fourth straight state title in the spring. Only five players in state history have won four straight state titles, and none at the Class 4A level. Manthou has not lost a match at the state tournament in three years, going a perfect 12-for-12. Manthou, however, is hardly the lone standout senior in the league as Kentridge\u2019s Matt Overland is nearly as tough. Overland gave Manthou a bit of a challenge during the state championship match last spring and hopes to better the feat this time around. A smart player with oodles of talent, Overland has accomplished everything but a state title in his four years with the Chargers. Of course, Overland is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Kentridge as the Chargers also return standouts Paul Yi (No. 2 singles), Vineeth Omkaram (No. 1 doubles) and Garrett Ballou (No. 2 doubles). … Like Kentridge, Kentwood \u2014 even behind Manthou \u2014 is heavy on upperclassmen as No. 2 doubles player Tucker Siegert, along with Adrian Tabaquin and Chris Rumer \u2014 both of whom shuffle in and out of No. 1 doubles \u2014 all are seniors. … Kent-Meridian, which posted an 0-16 league mark last year, picked up a 3-2 nonleague victory against Jefferson on Sept. 11. The Royals swept doubles play, getting victories from Rory Jens and Mack Snider (No. 1), John Nguyen and Thanh Pham (No. 2) and Kyle Engman and Reider Riveland (No. 3). … After opening the season with consecutive losses, Kentlake finally found the win column on Sept. 15, knocking off Tahoma, 4-1. Kentlake\u2019s Kyle Thomas (No. 1 singles), Kyle Woo (No. 2 singles) and No. 1 doubles duo Taylor Welch and Jordan Amoth all pulled out wins in the match.<\/p>\n
\u2022 NORTH OUTLOOK:<\/b> Kentridge has won the last three SPSL North titles and, barring a natural disaster, will make it a fourth this fall. The toughest challenger on Kentridge\u2019s revamped SPSL North schedule was Kentwood, which the Chargers disposed of 3-2 on Sept. 15. Kentwood will get another crack at Kentridge on Oct. 1 (3:30 p.m., Kentwood High), a match that could and likely will decide the SPSL North champion.<\/p>\n
\u2022 BOOKMARK ON THE WEB:<\/b> There isn\u2019t a better tennis Web site around than www.teambuchan.com. The site is operated by Thomas Jefferson coach Andrew Buchan, who has been at the helm of the Raiders\u2019 program for the past 18 years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
PLAYERS TO WATCH<\/b><\/p>\n
NAME\/SCHOOL\/YEAR<\/b><\/p>\n
Max Manthou\/Kentwood\/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: UW-commit is hands down the best No. 1 singles player in the state.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Matt Overland\/Kentridge\/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: Charger standout has the ability to make it to state title match again this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Paul Yi\/Kentridge\/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: Moving from singles to doubles this year, winning should follow.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Tucker Siegert\/Kentwood\/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: As solid of No. 2 singles player as you\u2019ll find in the North.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Vineeth Omkaram\/Kentridge\/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: Teamed up with Yi for state berth last year. Should advance again, this time with Ballou.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Rory Jens\/Mack Snider\/Kent-Meridian\/Juniors<\/p>\n
Notable: These Royals have played tough in No. 1 doubles during the early season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Garrett Ballou\/Kentridge \/Senior<\/p>\n
Notable: Slotted with Omkaram in No. 1 doubles, the duo should go far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SPSL NORTH BOYS TENNIS: AT A GLANCE \u2022 FAVORITE: Kentridge. \u2022 CONTENDERS: Kentwood, Auburn. \u2022 NOTABLE: Like girls swimming and golf, the South Puget Sound League has been divided into a third division for boys tennis, a sport that begins in the fall and wraps up in the spring. The North is comprised of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":16095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-16094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16094"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kentreporter.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=16094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}