Rice is nice

The Mirror

Decatur senior Chris Rice has already put together one of the more impressive resumés in the history of high school tennis in the state of Washington. And he still has one more Class 4A state tournament to go.

Rice has collected a pair of state singles championships and is the odds on favorite to snare his third in the spring. The senior rolled through the South Puget Sound League South Division regular season without dropping a set.

So Rice was the easy choice for the Mirror’s All-City Boys Tennis Team Player of the Year — his third straight. He hasn’t lost a match since his sophomore year and played at the state tournament as a freshman with doubles’ partner Brandon Abang.

Rice also led the Gators to the SPSL South Division team championship. Decatur finished with a perfect 14-0 record during the regular season. The boys tennis season will continue in the spring at the West Central/Southwest District Tournament.

Jefferson’s Colin Okazaki will be the only other Federal Way school district singles player joining Rice at the district tournament.

Okazaki finished third at the SPSL Tournament by beating Emerald Ridge’s Eric Olson in the consolation final.

On the doubles’ side, the Decatur team of Lawrence Lin and Fabian Saenz was solid all year. Lin and Saenz lost in the SPSL Tournament final to Puyallup’s Konner Ayris and Scott Sullivan, but will be the league’s third seed at districts.

Decatur teammates Travis Wagner and Tim Blackner will also be playing at districts. Wagner and Blacker snared the SPSL’s third seed after beating Jefferson’s John Poore and Chris Yoon by default in the SPSL South’s consolation final.

The Mirror’s All-City Boys Tennis Team also includes Federal Way’s Jake Stewart, Jefferson’s Poore and Beamer’s Kyle Christensen.

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