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Kings tennis downs Panthers, 4-1

By Drew Baker Contributing Writer

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Kings boy's tennis team snapped a five match losing streak, defeating Little Miami 4-1. It was the second win of the season for the Knights.

"It's just been a different year," Kings coach Mario Contardi said. "We've got a really solid group of guys; a lot of seniors who have been here when we had success and now they are on the other side of it and I think they are persevering great."

The win improves the Knights record to 2-2 in the Fort Ancient Valley Conference Cardinal division.

"I think the guys are playing up to their potential and sometimes greater and that is all we can ask," Contardi said.

Second singles Connor Maxwell got things rolling for the Knights by defeating Bryce Blanton(6-0, 6-2). Alex Polishuk took Kyle Sears with little resistance in the third singles game (6-1, 6-1).

"Connor has come a long way...he just knows how to play, he has a natural instinct. We are really pleased with what we see from him. He gets better every week," Contardi said.

The first doubles of Daniel Brown and Mike Klemt yielded just two games to the Panther duo of Kyle Lawrence and Tony Sha (6-2, 6-0).

However it was the second doubles team of John Garich and Brandon Schicke that drew praise from their head coach after defeating the twosome of Angel Gonzalez and Ian Hoban (6-2, 6-2).

"Number two doubles has been big for us all year that is where we have gotten a lot of our wins. John Garich is there at two doubles and he has been the mainstay with a few different partners. I think today was a good confidence builder," Contardi said.

Little Miami continues to see their program grow up from nine boys last year to 20 boys this season. The Panthers are now 5-6 on the season and 0-4 in the FAVCC.

Despite losing the match, Panther's coach Rod Dillon celebrated the one court victory that his team was able to secure from the Knights. In No. 1 singles Tyler Frasure defeated Chase Custer (6-1, 6-3).

"We have not won a court from Kings in quite a few years, so that is big for us," Dillon said. "We have a program we are trying to develop and get a little bit better. Basically we will build on that. Obviously we would like to be more competitive to win the match, but the kids came out and did their best."

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