After a tough start, the Mount Si tennis team cracked the win column with a victory Thursday, Sept. 24, at Eastlake High School.

The Wildcats can credit a senior leader who is quickly becoming a big player for the team.

Leonard Gebhardt, one of two foreign exchange students on the team this season, made quick work of his Eastlake opponent. Gebhardt helped stun the Wolves in the best-of-seven contest, four matches to three, beating the Wolves’ Vicente Varas 6-1, 6-3.

Doubles players also stepped up for the match. Mount Si pairs of Mike Grant/Tyler Mrachek and Garrett Rohan/Matt Laird posted victories on the court, while the tandem of Matt Van Nuys/Azhar Khandekar won by default. Grant/Mrachek took care of Chris Rheinberger and Bennett Johnson 6-4, 6-4, and the Rohan/Laird team beat Eastlake’s Hyunsoo Lim and Dillon Mills 6-0, 6-4.

In other action, the Wildcats fell last Tuesday, Sept. 22, at Sammamish. The Totems took the contest four matches to three.

Among winners for the Wildcats was Gebhardt, who beat Sammamish’s Dragos Pascaiu in a tight match, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3. In doubles, the Grant/Mrachek and Rohan/Laird teams posted victories. Grant and Mrachek beat Sammamish’s Dylan Moore and Kevin Hao 6-4. 6-3, while the Rohan-Laird tandem took care of the Totems’ Adam Wolf and Anthony Kao 7-6 (7-2 tiebreak), 6-3.

Gebhardt, who hails from Germany, has been a bright light for the Wildcats. His wins against Sammamish and Eastlake were his third and fourth on the season — he beat opponents from Mercer Island and Garfield, two very tough teams, earlier this month. In both of those matches, Mount Si lost the team competition 6-1.