SHORELINE — Shore- crest’s Marco Dehmel ran his record to 12-0 but the Jackson boys tennis team emerged with the team victory 5-2 Oct. 2 at Shorecrest High School.
Dehmel, an exchange student from a town outside Frankfurt, Germany, dispatched Richard Oam, 6-3, 6-1, in the No. 1 singles match.
Oam (8-3) took Dehmel to three sets the first time they met, before succumbing. No other player in the Western Conference South Division has taken a set from Dehmel, who called Oam “definitely the best opponent in (the Wesco South).”
“I thought I played decent,” Oam said. “He just gets all my balls other players don’t get. He’s at another level.”
Oam said he played better in the first meeting. Dehmel played sharp with few unforced errors the second time.
“Everything was working pretty good,” Dehmel said.
Dehmel, who arrived in Shoreline Aug. 11, said he never expected to blow away the competition in the league. When Dehmel received e-mails from his host, Shorecrest junior Doug Jamber, saying he and his teammates were playing a lot of tennis, Dehmel had some apprehension.
“I worried I was too bad for American standards,” he said.
Instead, Dehmel, who plays club tennis in Germany, seized the No. 1 singles slot.
“When he showed up I didn’t know anything about him,” Shorecrest coach Barry Majorwicz said. “I was pleasantly surprised the first day of practice.”
Despite Dehmel’s workmanlike win, Jackson’s depth proved to be the difference in the match.
The Timberwolves won the other three singles matches led by Alex Lin’s 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory over Jason Hollenback-Landraikus at No. 2 singles. Robin Choi knocked off Raymond Dalton 6-4, 6-2 in the No. 3 singles match while Julio Rojas dumped Nick Meilleur, 6-1, 6-0 at No. 4.
Shorecrest’s David Ehrlichman and Brian Sharkey won a tough 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 No. 1 doubles match over Nick Kang and Taylor Buser.
Jackson’s Brian Bae and Kevin Luangrath outlasted Cole Uppinghouse and Peter Olson 6-3, 7-5 at No. 2 doubles. Andrew Turner and Daniel Kwong of Jackson outworked Jambor and Nathan Bright, 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 doubles.
Jackson improved to 10-1 overall while Shorecrest fell to 5-7.
Timberwolves coach David Hutt said his task now is to set the lineup for the postseason. Players need to know now whether they’ll be playing singles or doubles in the division and district tournaments. The Timberwolves end the regular season with a match against Edmonds-Woodway, who beat them 4-3 earlier in the year to hand them their only loss.
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