How sweep it is

The Albemarle girls and boys tennis teams have each experienced consistent success in the Commonwealth District since joining in 2001. Tuesday marked another chapter in that success, as both teams emerged from this year’s district title matches victorious.
The girls beat Mountain View 6-0 to win their third straight Commonwealth crown, something they almost achieved twice before in coach Rich Lindsay’s nine seasons at the helm. The Patriots won back-to-back championships in 2001-02 and ’04-’05, and Lindsay was proud of his young team’s ability and poise in pulling off the school’s first “three-peat.”
“The problem with success is that you have to keep it going,” Lindsay said. “This is what we had to do was to win the district, now everything else is kind of icing for us. I’m very pleased with what the girls were able to accomplish.”
Albemarle (18-0) has been led all season by a pair of sophomores, No. 1 Megan Napolitano and No. 2 Abby Lesnoff, and the duo cruised through their respective singles matches to set the tone for their team.
“They’re not really sophomores anymore,” Lindsay said. “At this point, they’ve played two full seasons of tennis, and if you haven’t learned it by now, you’re not going to learn it by the time the postseason is over.”
Seniors Ali Angell and Valentina Moshnikova also secured singles points for the Patriots, and junior Tori Kuhn’s victory over Mountain View’s Amrita Khalsa clinched the match for the Patriots, who enjoyed their first full practice of the season on Monday.
“We counted it up, it’s been seven and a half weeks since we had a two-hour and 15 minute outdoor practice,” admitted Lindsay. “It’s all about how you deal with it, it’s like having court conditions that aren’t ideal, it’s the same for both players, so we’ve worked through that.”
On the boys’ side, Albemarle continued its dominance of the Commonwealth, winning its ninth straight title with a
5-0 win over Mountain View.
“I guess it’s a model of consistency,” said coach Chip Grobmeyer.
In fact, the Patriots (17-2) have hoisted every such trophy since becoming a member of the district. Grobmeyer, in his fourth year, saw his team notch an important sweep in doubles, paving the way for the victory.
Patriots No. 1 Jon Pyo suffered a leg injury in he and partner Quentin Jenkins’ 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 doubles win over the Wildcats’ Brendan Ackermann and Ben Hemenway, but Grobmeyer is hopeful that his star will be healthy for the Northwest Region quarterfinals, which begin today.
“It doesn’t seem to be very serious, so we plan to play him tomorrow against Woodbridge,” Grobmeyer said after the match. “Right now it’s looking like he will be able to play.”
Jenkins sustained an injury in the team’s first match of the year, but the senior has made his presence felt since rejoining the team in the middle of the season.
Fellow seniors Michael Koenig, Cameron Hill and Jeff Barton have played a huge part in the team’s success throughout the 2009 campaign.
“Those four have been just a coach’s dream — they’ve been fantastic,” Grobmeyer said of his seniors. “They have tremendous attitudes, they help each other out and the younger players. Quentin is a coach out there for me, always helping and instructing.”
Neither team will have much time to rest, as the region tournament starts this afternoon. Each team clinched the No. 1 seed and will host their opponents in today’s quarterfinal round.
The boys will face Woodbridge at 3 p.m., followed by the girls match against Patrick Henry-Roanoke at 5 p.m.