Tanaka Overcomes His Old Rival for WCAC Title

By Alan Goldenbach and Paul Tenorio
Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, May 23, 2008

Nobu Tanaka knew he could beat DeMatha All-Met Zachary Nicholson. The St. John's senior had done it in the regular season. He had done on the USTA Junior tennis circuit.

But he had not done it in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament. In each of the past two years, Nicholson stopped Tanaka in the final, and he was worried his accomplished high school career would end with a bunch of close misses at a title.

Tanaka, though, overcame a slow start last week and rallied to win five straight games en route to a 10-5 victory in the No. 1 singles draw.

"He got that monkey off his back," St. John's Coach Merritt Johnson said. "The night before, he didn't sleep and he was really nervous. But he composed himself and he played great."

Gonzaga won the team title for the third time in four years, edging runner-up DeMatha, last year's champion, by five points. The Eagles claimed titles in No. 4, 5, and 6 singles behind Paul Mascola, Malik Waleed and Ryan Jenks, respectively. Waleed and Jenks also captured the No. 3 doubles title.

DeMatha's John Collins and Eric Ward were the respective winners at No. 2 and 3 singles.

Flint Hill's Catalyst

It was only the second match of the season, and it held no consequence in the team's conference standings, but to Flint Hill Coach Ed Jalinske, the Huskies' April 2 clash with five-time Interstate Athletic Conference champion Bullis was the catalyst in the team's 14-0 season, which culminated with a third consecutive Virginia Independent Schools championship.

Flint Hill battled to a 4-3 victory over the Bulldogs, ending a four-year, 43-match winning streak. And Jalinske said the victory sparked something in his team.

"That really psyched these guys up," Jalinske said. "From that point on it was just intense match after intense match, just fighting hard. These guys wanted it badly and they earned it."

The Huskies cruised through the rest of the regular season, with a 5-4 victory over Virginia public school Robinson the only other close match, and hit their peak entering the state tournament, Jalinske said. The result was continued dominance -- Flint Hill downed Trinity Episcopal, 6-3, in the quarterfinals; St. Christopher's, 8-1, in the semifinals; and Potomac School, 7-2, to capture the title.

The team was led by senior Zach Pine and his twin brother Jon, the team's top two singles players who both will play for Virginia Tech next season. Jalinske credited the brothers for setting a standard of hard work throughout the roster.

"They came together, that's all there was to it," Jalinske said. "All that hard work and all that talent just came through at the end."

Northern Region Finals

South County junior Michelle Nguyen defeated Fairfax senior Lauren Palmucci, 6-3, 6-4, to take the Northern Region title on Tuesday, continuing an undefeated season and providing redemption after first-round losses in regionals the past two seasons.

"We had to play indoors and I wasn't really ready for it and Lauren played really well," Nguyen said. "But I was really excited [to win] since the past two years I lost in the first round. I don't really even remember [the championship point], I just wanted to win."

In the boys' bracket, Robinson senior Drew Courtney defended his Northern Region title, downing Fairfax senior Sidarth Balaji.

The four finalists advanced to the Virginia AAA quarterfinals June 5 at Jefferson District Park. Nguyen and Courtney will face the Central Region runners-up, while Palmucci and Balaji take on the Central champions.

Maryland Championships

There is going to be a new champion at the Maryland boys' tournament this weekend at the University of Maryland, and Rockville's Chris Goodwin appears to be the one to beat for that spot.

The field is open now with Churchill's Jared Pinsky, a three-time champion, playing at Duke.

Goodwin had the unfortunate timing of playing in Pinsky's shadow the past three years. But this year, Goodwin has breezed through Montgomery County, claiming the No. 1 singles titles at the county and Region II tournaments. Goodwin advanced to the state final in 2006, when Pinsky was upset by Wilde Lake sophomore David Nguyen, but Goodwin lost to Nguyen in the final. Nguyen is being home-schooled this year and is not eligible for the tournament.

"He's looked at the bracket," Rockville Coach Frank Weaver said of Goodwin, "and he knows he can win this tournament. He knows he had [Nguyen], and it killed him to lose. He wasn't ready for it then, but he's ready now."

In the girls' draw, the changing of the guard happened last year, as Churchill's three-time champion Maggie McKeever moved on to Maryland. That opened the door for Eleanor Roosevelt's Katelyn Stokes, who last year became the state's first freshman champion in six years. This year in College Park, Stokes is the top seed.

The second seed is Linganore senior Katie Schafer, who lost to Stokes in last year's final. Churchill sophomore Liz Kaufman, the No. 3 seed, overcame a loss to Blake's Carmen Jackman in the Montgomery County tournament final to win the Region II title.