Niwot boys tennis sweeps lone match of its week

Coming off a third-place finish in the Boulder High Panther Invitational on Aug. 26, the Niwot boys tennis team returned to Class 4A Region 5 play on Aug. 30 at Mountain View.

The Cougars arrived in Loveland with a perfect 4-0 league record and it was preserved upon leaving as all seven matches ended in a sweep. Senior Luke Weber didn’t lose a point in his No. 1 singles match and in the four doubles matches, only one total point went in favor of Mountain View.

Senior Ryan Gray and junior Kyle Davidson led the No. 1 doubles, sophomore Rex Wallington and junior Lauritz comprised the No. 2 doubles and juniors Kaushik Chandana and Manan Gangwar were No. 3 doubles. Mountain View was disqualified in the No. 4 doubles, so freshman Jack Peterson and senior Gabriel Martinez, who’s the younger brother of former Niwot all-conference baseball pitcher Caleb Martinez, received the win.

No. 2 singles senior LiChen Liao went 6-1, 6-0 and No. 3 singles freshman Charlie Kirtland finished 6-1, 6-1.

Niwot, which is 5-1 overall through Sept. 5, was set to face fellow Class 4A powerhouse Mullen High School on Sept. 1, but the match was rescheduled to Sept. 12. The Mustangs will still host the Cougars at the Pinehurst Country Club in Denver.

Before then, Niwot has a pair of home matches with Severance on Sept. 7 and Cheyenne Mountain on Sept. 8 during Homecoming week.