When many of the tennis matches in last Friday's contest at Germantown Academy were still in the first set, a light rain began to fall and the Patriots and visiting SCH Blue Devils were pulled off the courts. The precipitation picked up in intensity for a short spell and it looked as though competition would have to be postponed to another day.

A little persistence paid off though, as a smattering of sunshine and a light breeze soon had most of the courts drying out nicely, and the bout resumed.

At the end of the day, GA emerged with a 5-2 victory, rising to a record of 2-0 in the Inter-Ac League and 3-1 overall. For SCH, it was a step up from its two previous matches, 6-1 losses to Haverford School within the Inter-Ac and to Germantown Friends outside of the league. The Devils had started their season with a non-league encounter at Shipley School, where the Friends Schools League's three singles/two doubles format was followed and SCH won 3-2.

Meanwhile, GA's lone loss had come at the hands of another FSL squad, the GFS Tigers. The Patriots dropped that one by a score of 3-4, but then they turned that result around in a close Inter-Ac victory over Penn Charter.

Last Thursday in Fort Washington, GA swept the singles flights and two matches in pairs play, while Springside Chestnut Hill saw its fourth doubles team remain undefeated and also got a win at first doubles.

Freshmen won two of the singles contests for the Patriots. In the second flight, Armon Meinstein topped SCH junior Zack Shapiro, 6-4, 6-0, and one rung down on the ladder Max Baer took two 6-3 sets from visiting senior Ben Hayes.

The first singles contest took longer to complete. Started on a court shadowed by an outbuilding, the match was moved after the spritz of rain to a court that would dry more quickly. A number of long points also extended this battle between juniors, but eventually GA's Jason Wang recorded a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory against David Lubell of Springside Chestnut Hill.

The middle two contests out of the four doubles flights (second and third) were first to finish, and Germantown Academy victories here (combined with the second and third singles results) assured the hosts of a team victory.

Juniors Kwabena Ampomah and Cory Miller banked a 7-5, 6-3 win over SCH's second doubles tandem of junior Victor Kasian and sophomore Peter Guagliardo. In the third flight, GA freshman Chase Goldoor and junior Luca Diem had to capture a 7-2 tiebreaker to pull out the first set (7-6) against the Blue Devil duo of Sam Miller (a sophomore) and Aden Goldberg (a junior). The Patriot pair won more easily in the second set, 6-3.

The Blue Devils would be in a better frame of mind before they left for home, though, since they were able to register victories at first and fourth doubles. Every match so far has been close for the SCH four-dubbs, but sophomore Dillon Frankel and freshman Stone Xin have won them all. They accounted for the first victory for the Devils on Friday as they got past GA seniors Sam Fortunato and Thomas DiChiara, 7-5, 6-4.

Two Germantown juniors, Dylan Jeck and Zack Kotik, opened at first doubles with a 6-2 win, but this would prove to be the only match of the afternoon to reach a third set. Freshman David Xin and sophomore Brady Greenberg leveled the score by winning the second set at 6-4, then they closed out the day's proceedings with a 6-3 victory in the third round.