If making it to the 4A state tennis tournament wasn’t motivation enough, Juanita junior James Russell only need look at his bracket for reason to stay sharp between the end of the high school boys tennis season last fall and the start of the tournament in May.
If everything fell just right, the Juanita junior was in line to match up with an old nemesis, Puyallup’s Scott Sullivan.
“It was one of those things where he looked at the draw and knew he might play Scott,” Juanita coach Justin Ochsner said. “He had his sights set on that match.”
Sullivan beat Russell three times over the last year (including tournaments outside of prep tennis), giving the Juanita No. 1 plenty to dwell on over the six-month break.
After cruising through the first two rounds of the state singles tournament May 23-24 at the Vancouver, Wash., Tennis Center — overpowering Nick Noronha of Bellarmine in two sets, 6-1, 6-2, and Chad Merkley of Snohomish by the same scoreline, 6-1, 6-2 — Russell faced off against Sullivan in the semifinals. The match was sweet redemption for Russell, who eased through the first set 6-3 before fighting out a tight second set, 7-5.
“It definitely felt really good to beat him,” Russell said. “He’s a great guy, but I’d never beaten him. It gave me a lot of confidence moving on.”
A bigger challenge waited for Russell in the finals: Kentwood’s Max Manthou. Manthou won the state title last year and was a big favorite coming into the tournament.
“It’s kind of tough when you’re going into the match as quite the underdog and there’s that expectation that Max is gonna win,” Ochsner said. “That’s tough to overcome.”
Russell knew his position going into the final, but wasn’t fazed by the challenge.
“I’m the underdog,” Russell said. “But I’d been playing pretty well, and I was happy with my performance thus far in the tournament.”
Although Russell fell to Manthou in straight sets — 6-2, 6-4 — he walked away with a surprise runner-up finish.
“It’s awesome,” Ochsner said. “I knew James would do OK. He’s a good player and he plays all of the time. But to get second is really, really exciting.”
Russell is taking the state finish in stride.
“I wasn’t supposed to win,” Russell said. “But I went out there and played loose and competed, and it went well.”
Russell stormed through the regular season, going 10-0 in league play in the number one boys singles spot. He also won the KingCo 4A singles tournament, beating all four opponents in two sets, including Garfield’s Frankie Pavia, who made the state doubles tournament.
Russell played at state in the doubles tournament last year with teammate Victor Yang, but did not place.
