The AHS boys tennis team’s 2-0 record does not tell the full story. Not only has the team as a whole not lost a match, no player on the team has even dropped a set.
Following a 9-0 rout of West Potomac HS on Thursday, March 18, the Atoms improved their record to 2-0 overall and 18-0 in individual matches.
“We are doing very well this season and I’m very happy with the effort,” said head coach Mike Scott.
“We went into the match [against West Potomac] on a high note from the shutout at Lee,” said senior captain Connor Volk, the number four ranked player on the team. “With our confidence in the top six, we were able to dominate every match. We can’t ask for anything better than 18-0.”
Freshman Courage Okungbowa leads the Atoms by dominating the two opponents he has faced at number one singles 10-0 and 10-4, respectively. Okungbowa is ranked first in his age group in the Mid-Atlantic region and is a strong contender to win the Patriot District singles title. Juniors Erik Morton and David Hookey hold the number two and three spots, respectively, while Volk, junior JP Ramirez and sophomore Philipos Ousman round out the top six.
“It helps everyone having Courage to solidify our number one spot because it bumps players like Erik Morton and David Hookey, who have both played number one for us, down to two and three,” said Scott. “It really makes our team stronger all the way down.”
The Atoms opened the regular season on March 16 against Lee HS and dominated the Lancers in all aspects of the game. No singles player lost more than five games and the doubles teams overpowered the lowly Lancers.
Following the wins, the Atoms are confident heading into the bulk of their schedule against the strong teams of the Patriot District. The team plays reigning Patriot District champion Lake Braddock today at Lake Braddock Secondary School. On Thursday, the Atoms will take on rival WT Woodson HS.
“Lake Braddock and Woodson are going to be our toughest matches of the year and we’re going to have to split with one of them if we want to make regionals,” said Morton.
The two teams with the best records in the district at the end of the season advance to the Northern Region tournament. At this point, it is a three-horse race between Woodson, Lake Braddock and AHS for the two spots. All three teams are undefeated and all three teams have yet to drop a set in any of their matches.
“We’ve been able to practice for about a month now because we were out there shoveling,” said Scott. “As a result, we’ve had a lot of good practice and we’ll use that to our advantage against our opponents.”
