The Montgomery County tennis championships begin today with one looming question: Can anyone beat Churchill? More specifically, can anyone beat Churchill’s big three?
No. 1 Jared Pinsky, No. 2 Andrew Marcus, and No. 3 Felix Sun are undefeated against public school competition and stand as the favorites in their respective singles brackets. The championship round is set for Wednesday at Blake.
Churchill (11-1), which suffered its lone loss to private school power Bullis, won the Montgomery County Division I title and is shooting for its third straight county championship and 11th in the last 13 years. Coach Ben Woods will look to his singles stars to carry the squad.
“That’s our strength,” said Woods. “When one or two of them have been out of the lineup, the others have stepped up and still won.”
Pinsky (7-0), a junior, is seeded first in No. 1 singles. The most serious challengers are second-seeded Dan Stahl (Whitman) and third seed Chris Goodwin (Rockville). Pinsky is seeking his second straight county title and third straight state championship.
Marcus (9-1), a junior, is seeded first at No. 2 singles. His toughest competition figures to come from second-seeded Tim Klanke (Whitman).
Felix (10-0) is seeded second at No. 3 singles. The freshman is likely headed for a match with top seeded Eric Su (10-0) of Blair. When the teams met in the regular season, Felix played up.
Wootton (11-1) has the best chance to topple Churchill. The Patriots,4-3 losers to Churchill last week, are powered by their doubles. All three of their doubles teams, led by No. 1 Andrew Taylor and Jason Luo, are seeded first.
