The excitement was high Wednesday afternoon. The boys tennis team would play their first game against another division one school, Walter Johnson. A win would secure the Rockets spot in the most competitive division for another year.

Third doubles was the first to finish their matches, falling 4-6 and 1-6. Finishing second was first doubles which consisted of sophomores Ryan Choi and Jonathan Huang, winning in straight sets for RM’s first victory of the day.

As the game continued, both sides conceded multiple losses. After two hours, the Rockets were up against the Wildcats, leading 3-2, with victories at second and fourth singles. In the end, it all came down to either  freshman Matt Kleiman at third singles or sophomores Shoham Ghosh and Ethan Do at second doubles.

Both RM teams had split sets. Kleiman had lost 5-7 in the first set and won second 6-4. Do and Ghosh split 3-6 and 7-6 (7-4). One of the two had to pull through in order to give the Rockets the win.

In the end, Kleiman took all the glory by giving RM its fourth victory. “I felt like I had a chance because the momentum was on my side,” Kleinman later after winning in a close match, finishing his last set with a score of 6-4.

Although RM’s victory had already been assured, Ghosh and Do did not want to give all the glory to Kleiman. In an intense third set, the rest of the team corralled around the court to cheer the doubles team on. They eventually won 7-5, giving the Rockets a 5-2 victory over Walter Johnson.

The team hopes to ride this momentum into the rest of their division one matches, especially against the other three “W” schools that will take place within the next two weeks (Whitman, Wootton, Winston Churchill). Although yesterday’s victory ensured a division one spot next year, the team is looking to play just as hard for the rest of the season to see just how far they can go against other top schools in the county.