IHS’ tennis team had a hugely successful tennis match against the Redmond Mustangs on Oct. 11, winning several matches against them. Several courts beat the Mustangs, some even trumping them by a large margin, standing up to the incredibly competitive team in standard Issaquah fashion. One of the courts savagely destroyed Redmond by a whole two sets, displaying the sheer strength of Issaquah’s players.

Out of all the courts, junior Eugene Park had an amazing doubles game, demolishing one of their sets with an astounding 7-2. It was painful to watch sophomore Patel Rudra, lose a game after he accidentally hit a ball that would have gone out otherwise. After putting the ball back into play, his opponent hit in at the net, losing him the point. The fact that the ball was going to go out was probably only visible from a spectator’s angle, so it was not his fault. Rudra ended up losing the set at 4-3-point disadvantage. This is not at all surprising however, as coach Nico Hakes stated that Redmond is a “very strong team” with a good record. Losing a few sets here and there is acceptable, but with Redmond’s incredibly competent team, it was more than expected. Although he did not play, junior Luke Sarausad, agreed with his coach. He stated that Redmond had a lot of wins, and that beating them was a huge honor itself. He also said that he was very proud of his teammates, and that most games went even better than he had expected. senior Jake Schuehle also performed well, winning three out of four sets. He stated that it was a “great win,” elaborating that he and his teammate faked a lot, and Redmond just kept on falling for it, despite their strategy becoming extremely obvious toward the end.

A hallmark of this match was the incredible length of the volleys, as almost all courts kept a ball in the air for upwards of 50 hits at times. The teams were evenly matched on all fronts, and watching them play was breathtaking. Competitions like these are rarely seen outside of professional sports, as on most occasions one team stomps the other with hardly any effort, making for an uninteresting match to watch. This one, however, lasted almost half an hour longer than most high school tennis games are supposed to, going way past sundown. At one point it got so dark that you could barely see the tennis balls, but the court’s lights turned on shortly, so the spectacular game could continue. Issaquah saw great success, and it can easily be said that this pace shall continue into the future.