Making a Racket: Week 5 in high school tennis

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Don’t look now, but the boys tennis season is nearly over.

Just three rounds remain, and Mountain View (4A Greater St. Helens League), Columbia River (3A GSHL), and Hudson’s Bay (2A GSHL) enjoy the view from the top.

Mountain View completed a season sweep of Camas on Wednesday, winning 4-2.

The Thunder’s lineup had Colton Reed in the No. 1 doubles spot with Nick Shiraishi for a 6-3, 6-1 win over Nitin Beri and Sam Christopher.

Camas, which was beat 6-0 in the first meeting, scored wins at Nos. 1 and 3 singles. Jonathan Ho improved to 6-3* on the year after defeating Mountain View’s Tyler Sparling 6-3, 6-3.

Mountain View’s Mark Bajtay and Algird Zalpys battled for three sets to take down Andrew Lee and Jared Brophy 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles.

Mountain View coach Mat Clark expects to see tight competition in the Thunder’s next three matches before district.

“This was a pretty good indicator,” he said in an email to The Columbian on Wednesday. “(Matches with) Camas, Union and Skyview will all be very competitive and tight.”

Mountain View improved to 11-0 overall, 9-0 in 4A GSHL matches.

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From the Mountain View-Camas match … you know when you click the camera shutter and you think you might have a cool shot but deep down you know it’s probably not completely in focus? But you still hope there might be a chance it will still work out OK?? It’s what we call a “soft” photo…

We still used the photo in the Oct. 9, 2014 print edition of The Columbian in Page B4 of sports simply because it was “close” enough to use (I suppose) and such a unique image.

(By the way, it was completely by accident. I wasn’t trying for this shot! Honest.)

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Columbia River beat Prairie 4-2 win Wednesday, and can claim the 3A GSHL title. The Chieftains have won four times vs. Prairie this season with one more meeting to go.

Columbia River moved to 4-0 in the league standings with Prairie second at 3-3.

Both Columbia River’s No. 3 matches were three-set wins. Nathan Behrens came from a set down to defeat James PHilliops 4-6, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 3 singles, and at No. 3 doubles, Jacob Benson and Jaret Carlson defeated Sean Stilwell and Gage Elerding 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

Unofficially, I have Columbia River’s No. 2 Nathan Crary moved to 7-1* on the year after beating Kaden Shorf 6-0, 6-0 on Wednesday.

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Hudson’s Bay’s only blemish in league play is a loss to Mark Morris. But the Eagles also have a win over the Monarchs with one match to play between the two. It’s scheduled for Monday at Bay, however, the forecast is a wet one.

Hudson’s Bay uses a variety of lineups to produce results.

One consistent this week has been Thanh Vo and Dat Vo at No. 1 doubles as they posted back-to-back straight-set wins on back-to-back days against Mark Morris and R.A. Long on Tuesday-Wednesday.

The 5-1 team win Wednesday against R.A. Long was Bay’s next-to-last scheduled home match this fall season. (My apologies for not getting out to a Bay match yet this season… there is only 1 of me after all.)

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Going into Wednesday’s matches it is worth noting that Skyview freshman Andrew Kabacey remained undefeated on the year. … at both No. 1 and No. 2 singles.

“He is really wise beyond his years and steady as they come,” Skyview coach Jay Gowen said in an email last week.

As pointed out before, Kabacey’s style of play can frustrate opponents.

“His style of play is unique at the high school level because he uses all variety of shots and by the time guys figure out how to play him, it’s too late,” Gowen said.

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Only a couple more blog entries for boys tennis this season. Districts and bi-districts (for some) will finish the season by the end of the month.

Until then, keep those cards and letters coming.

(*NOTE: Individual records are unofficial due to not all results from every match have been reported to The Columbian. But they are close for blog purposes.)