In all sports, having a perfect season is as good as it gets. Teams such as the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2001 Miami Hurricanes football team, and 2002 – 2003 University of Connecticut Women’s basketball team know what it takes to be perfect. However, none of them were able to go perfect twice in a row. But at Garfield, perfection has struck a second time.

With their dominating victory over the Eastlake Wolves, the Garfield High School boys’ tennis team finished their KingCo season 10 – 0 for the second straight year.

The team had already clinched the KingCo Championship the week before against Lake Washington, but still needed to beat the Wolves to achieve perfection. The Bulldogs had won each of the first five matches, ensuring a victory before the match was called due to weather.

In 2007, the road to perfection started with a very difficult opponent, in the Roosevelt Roughriders.

“Roosevelt was our toughest opponent,” said sophomore Riley Mulherkar. “Their coach was trash-talking, and saying that his team would beat us. But they didn’t.”

Although the Bulldogs were able to handle the Roughriders 5 – 4, they had to do it in comeback fashion, with each of their three doubles matches a do-or-die match.

“Our biggest strength this year was our depth,” said Mulherkar. “No other team in the league was able to handle us. If somehow our top singles players lose, we can always count on our bottom seeds to win.”

However the top singles seeds rarely lost a match, as throughout the season sophomore Frankie Pavia went 7 – 2, junior Neil Eddington went 8 – 1, and sophomore Wilson Platt achieved an undefeated 9 – 0 record.

The Bulldogs had no problem against their other non-Eastside opponents, shutting out both Franklin and Ballard 9 – 0.

Teams on the Eastside were no match for the high-powered Bulldogs either, as the only team that was able to even make their match close was Lake Washington, who fell 5 – 3.

“Lake Washington was pretty good, but Wilson [Platt] was able to pull out his match in three sets,” said sophomore Frankie Pavia. “That pretty much secured the win.”

That win proved to be the last test for the team, as their shutout win over Eastlake the next week secured their 10 – 0 record in 2007, and a 20 – 0 record dating back to the beginning of the 2006 season.

“The best part of the season was not only going undefeated,” said Pavia, “but also having great individual performances.”

The next step for a select few members of the team is the district tournament, held at the Nordstrom Tennis Center located on the campus of the University of Washington.

Garfield singles players junior Neil Eddington, sophomore Ryan Killory, and Pavia were invited to the tournament, giving each of them an opportunity also to advance to the state level. The top two singles players in districts automatically advance to the state tournament, and the third place finisher could possibly make it as well.

The Bulldogs will also send three doubles teams to the doubles district tournament the following week.

“Because we won our division, we got to have more people go to districts,” said Mulherkar. “We not only get three singles players, but three doubles teams as well. That gives us an advantage.”

Although certain members of the team still have some business to attend to at districts, the team as a whole in 2007 made a statement that they were the force to be reckoned with in KingCo 4A. If anyone wants to take the KingCo crown in the upcoming years, they are going to have to go through Garfield to do it. And with the youth that the team has, the crown doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

“Tomo (Berry) is the only senior in our line-up that we will lose next year,” said Pavia. “I am looking forward to another great season, and a lot more winning.”

Junior captain Neil Eddington said earlier this year that the sky is the limit for this team. So far, he is right.