Boys' Tennis: NWD Tournament

By David Selig
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — In a span of four hours Wednesday, Sherando junior Kaleb Nguyen won three tennis matches and two Northwestern District championships.

But perhaps the most impressive stat was that he only dropped a total of three games in the process.

Nguyen won his second straight district singles title (6-0, 6-2 over Handley’s Daniel Park), and he teamed with junior Trevor Scott to win a doubles semifinal (6-0, 6-0 over James Wood) and championship match (6-1, 6-0 over the Judges) at Winchester Country Club. It may have looked easy, but Nguyen at least said he broke a sweat.

“Actually, I really am [tired],” he said with a smile after he and Scott finished off Park and Kyle Stickley in the doubles final shortly after 4 p.m. “I’m not physically tired, I just really want to go to sleep.”

Nguyen made sure to put his matches to bed quickly, none faster than the clean sweep over the Colonels’ duo of Thom Schweitzer and Devin Carter in the semis.

But that wasn’t just because of Nguyen’s brilliance.

“Trevor is serving really well right now, so that helps me get easy volleys,” Nguyen said. “We just look for that combination basically every point.”

Scott and Nguyen only played a handful of regular season matches on the same doubles team, but Scott said the pair has been practicing together every day and continues to improve.

“Just getting a little closer, making everything tighter, [forming] a mental link,” Scott said.

In singles, Nguyen said there are still areas he’s trying to fine-tune, but he left Park no chance to get back into the match after sweeping the first set.

“My coach [Jimmy Robertson] motivated me in the second set to fight back and grind some points out,”Park said. “I won a couple games, and that actually motivated me and boosted my confidence, but he executed well. ...

“He’s one of the top players in the Mid-Atlantic. He’s just a great player. ... He has a lot of skills, and he has a lot of tricks that he can use to beat anybody.”

As a runner-up, Park also moves on to the Region II tournament individually and in doubles with Stickley. (Park and Stickley defeated Millbrook’s Matthew Cress and Walter Battin 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals.)

But it’s clear which Northwestern District player is the one who will be keeping opponents most restless as the postseason continues. (The Warriors look to complete a sweep of the district honors with an overall team win over the next two days.)

“We’re just looking to play to our full potential,” Nguyen said. “Go to states, and maybe win it. Who knows?”

— Contact David Selig at
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.