Sunset Juniors Win Men's Tennis Doubles Tournament
By Dónal Buckley
Everyone knows prom happened last Saturday, but did you know that a tennis tournament with every school in the Beaverton School District had its finals as well? This tournament is known as Districts, and if players do well there, they can qualify for State and play against teams from all over Oregon. Districts has two different tournaments: singles and doubles. In order to qualify for State in either, teams have to make it to the semi-finals. And our very own juniors, Parsa Nasri and Kei Watanabe, not only qualified for State, but won the whole doubles tournament!
As one can imagine, winning an event where schools from all over the district compete is no easy feat. “It feels great and feels like all the hard work leading up to the tournament paid off,” Parsa commented.
Kei also had similar feelings: “It feels great, but also relieving. It was a really tight match and the crowd we had was insane. The energy during and after the match was incredible.”
According to their coach, health and PE teacher Lad Salness, the match lasted a total of three hours and it went to a third set. For those who don’t know tennis matches work, in order to win the match, teams need to win the best of three sets. Each set consists of six games. A lot of the time, if a team wins two sets in a row, the match is over and they win. However, if each team wins one set, then it goes to a third, tie-breaking set. Teams also need to win by two games, but if the score is tied 6–6, then they play just one more. Parsa and Kei won the first set 7–6, lost the second set 4–6, and then clinched the win in a nailbiting 7–5 third set.
“When I was double faulting and feeling a lot of pressure to hold my service games, it definitely impacted my confidence,” Parsa noted. “Also being down 4–5 in the third set kind of told me that it’s all or nothing at this point in the match and allowed me to just play.”
“I felt pretty calm all throughout the match,” Kei said. “I trusted my partner and our capabilities which helped us stay confident all throughout the match. There were tight moments all throughout the match, but I surprisingly didn’t feel tight at all. The communication and trust we had helped us win for sure. “
For those that don’t know, Kei and Parsa are normally our top two singles players, so for them to play doubles would seem to be a surprise. But in reality, the two have played plenty of doubles matches before. “I usually prefer doubles over singles, but it was definitely new for high school tennis. The energy is completely different and just a lot more fun,” Kei told me. “Playing with Parsa is great, we communicate well and it was definitely the right decision. After the Jesuit tournament we decided to take a shot with doubles since we both wanted the intensity and energy on court.”
Parsa had similar feelings: “We always had playing doubles in the back of our minds but wanted to keep it secretive from other schools. We thought we could get far and have more enjoyment than the stress of singles. We have also established chemistry these past couple of years.”
After such a long and well-fought match, it’s hard to imagine they don’t feel tired. “I am still sore especially after enduring a long a prom straight after,” Parsa explained. “I feel exhausted but still have State to look ahead to.”
Kei added on, “[I feel] surprisingly good, I felt a little tired but I couldn’t complain much since prom was waiting for us.”
Although it would seem like it’s almost impossible not to celebrate winning a large tournament, Parsa and Kei still have obstacle step left: State. After his win, Parsa made sure to note, “We don’t feel satisfied though as State is coming up.”
Kei also noted, “We still have State left so it’s a little too early for us to celebrate.”
Even if it might be too early to claim themselves champions of the Oregon, they are the doubles champions of the Beaverton School District — regardless of what happens at State. So to them, going to prom that evening was like a celebration of their victory. “We both had to head straight to our prom after,” Parsa said, “but embracing our family, friends, and coaches was the highlight of the day.”
