East Ridge boys tennis: Raptors beat Lakeville South, St. Paul Central

East Ridge aced its first two games of the season, defeating Lakeville South and St. Paul Central.

The Raptors’ doubles teams remain untouchable, winning all of their matches so far this season, while the singles players’ strong showing led the team to 6-1 victories against both opponents.

Although East Ridge (2-0) lost one singles match at Lakeville South on April 4, the singles players only dropped 23 games total against the Cougars. No. 1 singles player, senior Colton Mog, defeated David Magione 6-2, 6-3.

At No. 2 singles, senior Warren Tropazado, lost to Chase Roseth 0-6, 3-6.

At No. 3 singles, freshman Vishaal Gupta, defeated Joey Machaj 6-1 6-4, and number four singles, eighth grader Nikhil Gupta, defeated Joel Varghese 6-1, 6-0.

Despite closer scores in the doubles matches, each pair pulled out an eventual victory. Number one doubles, sophomores Greg Sharrow and Zach Nigatu, stopped the potential comeback of Marcus Vievering and Bird, winning in three sets (6-0, 5-7, 6-3).

No. 2 doubles, freshman Riley Pratt and seventh grader Ben Van der Sman, defeated Matt Barry and Mitch Johnson in a tight 7-5, 7-5 match.

At No. 3 doubles, sophomore Phillip Cai and senior Sayan Roy also silenced a potential comeback by winning their three set match against Spencer Linse and Bird 6-0, 2-6, 6-3.

Using slightly different configurations East Ridge saw the same results for their home match against St. Paul Central on April 5. Most of the singles matches were closer against Central. The singles players dropped 30 games altogether, but the Raptors held their opponents to two sets.

No. 1 singles, Mog, lost to Ian Shank 6-0, 6-0. No. 2 singles, Nigatu, defeated Vincent Kennedy 6-1, 6-4. Number three singles, Tropazado, defeated Anthony Howard 6-4, 6-4.

No. 4 singles, Nikhil Gupta, defated Jonas Taghavi 6-2, 6-3.

Central couldn’t get past the strength of Raptors doubles.

No. 1 doubles, Sharrow and Vishaal Gupta shut out opponents Brian Lee and Bryn Shank 6-0, 6-0.

No. 2 doubles, Pratt and Van der Sman defeated Simon Lancaster and Julian Hommeyer 6-1, 6-4.

No. 3 doubles managed a comeback after losing the first set to Jacob Peterson and David Salzman for a final score of 4-6, 6-1, 6-0.

The Raptors played Irondale at home on Tuesday after the Bulletin went to press and will play their first conference match at Park on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

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