Mount Si tennis team improvises, shows mental toughness in challenging match-ups

Jake Miller was in a whole new place in the game of tennis. The Mount Si High School senior, who started the year as part of a number-one-doubles duo with freshman Matthew Griffin, got called up to fill the number-three singles spot this week—a first in his varsity career. He duly complied and kept an even keel despite serious pressure from Sammamish's Anthony Kao. "The kid was pretty good," admitted Miller, who fell gracefully to Kao in two sets of six games, with two wins to his credit. The takeaway: "You can still beat people," he said.

September 23, 2011 7:41 pm

Jake Miller was in a whole new place in the game of tennis.

The Mount Si High School senior, who started the year as part of a number-one-doubles duo with freshman Matthew Griffin, got called up to fill the number-three singles spot this week—a first in his varsity career.

He duly complied and kept an even keel despite serious pressure from Sammamish’s Anthony Kao.

“The kid was pretty good,” admitted Miller, who fell gracefully to Kao in two sets of six games, with two wins to his credit. The takeaway: “You can still beat people,” he said.

Thanks to play ineligibilities in the standard Mount Si lineup, Miller wasn’t the only Mount Si tennis player to leave his comfort zone Tuesday, Sept. 20, during play at home against the Totems.

Mount Si’s doubles teams came through it with a few high points. Number-two doubles Van Magnan and Clint Christen took three and four games respectively to Sammamish players Aaron Tam and Jason Habib’s two sets of sixes.

Mount Si’s number-three doubles team of Rhett Haney and Jackson Foster had the best day Tuesday: They claimed a win in set one, 7-6, but fell to Sammamish’s Erik Wing and Kevin Monahan, 0-6, 3-6 in the following two sets.

In other results, Mount Si dominated Liberty on Sept. 8, then suffered a drubbing by tennis-talent-heavy Mercer Island on Sept. 8.

Against Liberty, senior Azhar Khandekar nearly held off Patriot Brock Mullers, 6-4, 1-6, 4-6.

“Mentally, it was an outstanding match,” coach Jim Gibowski said. “That’s telling me a lot about his mental toughness.”

“I just keep telling myself, it’s not over until it’s over,” Khandekar said. “Just keep pushing.”

• Mount Si hosts Juanita on Tuesday, Sept. 27, and then hosts Bellevue on Thursday, Sept. 29. Game time is 3:45 p.m.