Cardinals Continue Winning Tradition

Thu., May 11, 2000

By Janie McCauley janiem@spokesman.com

Medical Lake tennis

Leroy Lemaster’s best explanation for the longtime success of his boys tennis team at Medical Lake is that the Cardinals players respect tradition.

And the school definitely has a tennis tradition.

If Medical Lake wins against Pullman at home today, the Cardinals will have their ninth straight league title in hand. They defeated the Greyhounds 4-3 in the first meeting this season.

Medical Lake was 11-1 overall heading into a non-league match Tuesday against Lake City, and is 7-0 in the Great Northern League heading into today’s match.

Included in the Cardinals’ record are wins against Class 4A Mead, Central Valley and Moses Lake, and 3A Cheney.

Lemaster strives to introduce players to tennis at a young age, so once they reach high school they already know they want to play tennis.

“Then they don’t have to decide,” he said. “Tennis is like life. What you put into it determines how much you get out of it. The young kids come in, and they see that.”

Communication is another key for the Cardinals, who won six Northeast A League titles and the last two GNL titles. They shared the ‘98 title with Pullman.

“The line of communication is open,” Lemaster said. “Nobody yells at each other. They have respect. They’re good kids. They know I care for them. If there’s a problem, we’re going to sit down and talk about it. They know how I feel, that you need to play hard and have good sportsmanship.”

The Cardinals have had three valedictorians in four years, including Jeremiah Johnson this spring.

Another positive for the program is that the school will add two more tennis courts this summer, which will allow the team to practice for 1-1/2 hours instead of an hour.

Lemaster said he is fortunate to have former players Josh Greene and Robert Haugen as assistant coaches, and former Whitworth College standout Dawn Eliassen directing the girls.

“For (my team) to stick out means I have a good junior varsity coach and a good girls coach,” Lemaster said. “I’m just a figure walking around here a lot of the time.”

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