ARLINGTON — For Sean Cunningham and the Arlington boys tennis team, 2009 is a year of redemption — not just for last year, but the entire program.
The Eagles’ 2008 finish of 3-13 left a then first-year coach Cunningham searching for answers, as he knew his players had the ability, but that ability just wasn’t showing up in the standings.
“I thought we were better than that, but we lost a lot of matches 4-3,” he said. “And we had a few guys playing in a few spots that they weren’t used to — a few guys in singles that hadn’t played there before.”
Cunningham and his boys wanted a fresh start in 2009, but couldn’t shake the demons from last season, dropping their first three matches, including one to rival Marysville-Pilchuck, 4-3, after taking a 3-0 lead in the match.
“I told the guys that was the most difficult loss I have faced as a coach,” he said. “I think they agreed.”
In what Cunningham describes as the difference between his players this year and last, they responded like experienced upperclassmen, shutting out Oak Harbor 7-0 on Sept. 11.
“I think they decided like I did that they were sick of losing matches 4-3,” he said.
The sweep was the start of a 11-1 run that lasted through almost the end of the season and represents a turning point not only for the nine seniors that make up the second place Eagles, but for the program as a whole, which is enjoying the best year in school history.
This is also a special year for Cunningham, as it is his second year coaching varsity, and fourth year total with the Arlington boys. The nimble coach, who practices with his players, has coached these seniors all four years, as he was the junior varsity coach two years prior.
“This is a unique situation to get to be so close to your players for four years,” he said. “I know them all so well, both their strengths and their weaknesses.”
Cunningham kept all but his ace from last season, and has had a big match from each of his singles players, which include No. 1 Ari Fernando, No. 2 Austin Taylor, No. 4 Eric McElroy and No. 3 Marty Thordarson, who is 15-0 this season.
“I’m so glad to be able to be able to see this in my senior season,” Thordarson said. “Things are just different this year. We know we can win.”
But on this team, the doubles pairings have shown to be equally important, as they proved in a 5-2 win over Snohomish, which completed the team’s first sweet of the Panthers in history. Snohomish moved its top singles players as a doubles team, hoping to sweep the doubles by giving them an advantage. They may have won the top doubles match, but Cunningham’s No. 3 and 4 teams of Josiah Aylesworth and David Taft-Farren and Brent Thompson and Matt Peiffle proved to be too much for their higher-seeded opponents.
“That was definitely a good feeling,” said Thordarson about being such a favorite that opponents strategize how to beat them. “But it was different.”
The way Cunningham has the Eagles playing, however, is bound to make that feeling a more permanent one.
