Netmen outplays Quince Orchard

The boys' tennis team had their first Division I victory on April 15 against Quince Orchard, beating them 4-3 to make Blair's season record 4-2. Although the Blazers' first and second singles players were absent, the doubles teams made a clean sweep and senior Max Gibianski's singles victory pushed them to triumph over Quince Orchard.

Both seniors Gordon Su and Michael Price were absent during the match, but the Blazers' organized the remaining players in a few ways that proved vital and successful for the victories. First, the third and forth singles players were moved up two spots with their two newly open spots left to the top doubles team that was broken up and switched events. Then the doubles teams moved up and an alternate team filled in.

The first six matches went utterly one way or the other, with Blair losing their number 1, 2 and 4 singles games in straight sets and winning their number 3 doubles and singles and number 2 doubles in straight sets. Then came the teeth grindingly close number one doubles game. Senior Kevin Chai and junior Edward Hsieh played a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (11-9) match that made the overall competition one hour longer than any other this season. Their game was plagued with more errors than usual but by the last set most of their teammates had finished and were enthusiastically cheering them on. Hsieh said that the support from the rest of the team were the reason they pulled through by trying to stay calm and get control of the ball.

The main problem for the Blazers was errors, which many couldn't overcome throughout the match, but most players were unswervingly consistent. And the points they earned while playing safe and hitting soft tipped the scale against Quince Orchard.

Team manager Hersch Bhatia believed the Blazers should have easily won the match but, without the top two singles players and so little practice in the last two weeks because of the rain, the team struggled. Although he didn't expect the meet to be so close, coach David Ngbea told the team that they had depth and were going to pull through.

The next match is on April 23 at Paint Branch.