Boys Varsity Tennis Team finds success as end-of-season looms

Last season, the West Linn Boys Varsity Team lost three significant seniors, the most notable being Mitch Tingey who the number one singles play for the Lions. This season, the Lions haven’t missed a beat and are starting off well, with notable wins against Lake Oswego and Sherwood. A veteran of varsity, Logan Scott-Deeter, senior,  re-joined the team this year after having not played last season.

“Logan is doing really really well, especially since he had that year away from tennis,” John Rowan, senior, said. With a familiar face back with the team, West Linn has also added two freshmen, Justin Lawrence and Ben Walker.

“They’re solid players and have great attitudes,” Rowan said. “The two guys are beyond their years for being freshmen.”

Arguably the Lions’ biggest win of the year came against cross town rival Lake Oswego on April 10. The win was especially sweet for West Linn as they fell to the Lakers last season, losing on three tiebreakers that would have given them the win. The team’s biggest rival though is against the Lakeridge Pacers and over the past few years West Linn has not been able to finish the job against them. But the team remains confident

“We lost to them earlier this season but everyone knows that they’re really good,” Rowan said. “That being said though, we always give them a run for their money which is a good sign.”

Despite the early season success for the Lions, there remains some aspects of the game that need improvement if they want to take their skills to the next level.

“We’ve hit some rough patches especially in the beginning of the season,” Rowan said. “We’ve had difficulty executing so we have to improve our consistency and not try to force points.”

West Linn hopes to gain some more momentum as they travel to Medford to participate in the Medford Tennis Tournament which takes place Thursday (travel day), Friday and Saturday at 8:30 a.m. (Friday) and 9:30 a.m. (Saturday).