It was a big Saturday for the Mountain View boys tennis team at the 3A bi-district tournament in Tacoma.
But perhaps none bigger than for freshman Kevin Kim.
The third-place singles qualifier out of the 3A district tournament, Kim had already qualified for state by making the semifinals on Friday.
He followed that up by winning the bi-district title on Saturday.
Kim beat Jonah Panzer of Stadium 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals, and then topped Ethan Griffith of Capital when Griffith had to default in the third set while trailing 6-4, 6-7, 4-2.
“Best performance by a freshman we have seen as coaches,” Mountain View head coach Nick Frost said. “Three upsets in a row to win the overall title. He’s raised a lot of eyebrows up here.”
Mountain View’s Vincent Hsu, a junior, and James Bertheau, a sophomore, will be returning to state for the second year in a row as both the 3A district and 3A bi-district doubles champions.
They won their semifinal match 6-2, 6-3 against Peninsula and then beat a team from Lakes in the final 6-1, 6-0.
Mountain View finished with 24 points to win the bi-district team title. Stadium was second with 16.
Prairie sophomore Elijah Nelson, the 3A district singles champ, placed third and he will be returning to state in May as well.
Mountain View’s Lu Abuizzah finished as first alternate to state in singles.
4A bi-district tournament
Union doubles team of senior Kyle Mosier and sophomore Jacob Flentke are returning to state once again as back-to-back bi-district champions.
And they did it by surviving a three-set semifinal.
Their Saturday at the Boeing Tennis Center in Kent started with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 win against Decatur and then capped off the tournament with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Bellarmine Prep in the final.
Mosier and Flentke placed third at state last year.
In singles, Camas will have two representatives at state in May. District champion Akash Prasad, a junior, placed fifth at bi-district and sophomore Shiva Narayanan placed eighth for the final spot to state.
Skyview’s Jonathan Hutley won his last two matches Saturday to place ninth and is the first alternate to state.
Union doubles team of Brayden Shoemaker and Gabe Hapke, who were district runner-up, placed 10th and missed being an alternate to state.
