Going into the 2015 season Newport Knights tennis head coach Ryan Pang believed his team had the talent to win a Class 4A KingCo regular season championship.
Close to two months later, Pang’s dreams were realized.
The Newport Knights put together an undefeated record of 8-0 in Class 4A KingCo League play, winning their first regular season KingCo tennis championship since 2011. Skyline finished in second place with a 7-1 record while Eastlake nabbed a third place finish with a 6-2 record.
“The fact that Newport hasn’t won it since 2011, it’s kind of a big deal,” Pang said. “All of the upperclassmen were excited as heck about us winning the league title. The younger players on the team, I don’t think they have realized how big of a deal this was for us.”
Pang said the freshmen class consisting of four varsity players was the key to his team’s success during the 2015 season.
“Most of the freshmen play singles and most of the upperclassman play doubles. The first couple of weeks of the season was interesting because we were trying to figure out the lineups,” Pang said. “Once we got the doubles teams figured out and situated where everyone was comfortable in their spots it just made things so much easier for us. We had so much depth relative to some of the other teams we played against in KingCo.”
The Knights competed in the Class 4A KingCo tournament on May 14 and May 15 at Skyline High School in Sammamish. As of press time, results of this contest were unavailable.
“I think we will do well,” Pang said a few days before the tournament. “There is only two spots for singles and two doubles teams from KingCo who will reach the state tournament. It is going to be a battle in every way.”
Pang expects Newport No. 1 singles player Vivian Glozman to advance to the state competition with ease.
“Vivian will take one of those spots in singles for sure. Everything else is just up for grabs. Doubles play is a little more unpredictable because with doubles anything can happen,” Pang said. “If a doubles team gets hot, they can go pretty far, and if a team can get really nervous, it could adversely effect the outcome. Usually the teams that win in doubles aren’t the ones with the best players; they are the ones who are the most teamwork oriented.”
Pang hopes to see as many athletes as possible punch their ticket to the state competition.
“We’re hoping to get as many to state as we can. If we can do that, we have a shot at potentially winning state as a team,” he said.
Shaun Scott: 425-453-5045; sscott@bellevuereporter.com
