After butting heads a few too many times as freshmen doubles partners, twins Grant and Marcus Munoz decided to go their separate ways, at least on the tennis court. In his sophomore and junior years, Grant was a force to be reckoned with in singles action, narrowly missing out on a state berth last season, while Marcus has placed at state twice with two different doubles partners.

This year, as seniors, the twins are back on the court together and will be leading the perennially strong Overlake tennis squad as co-captains, anchoring the team at No. 1 doubles.

“We’re certainly hoping that we can get them (to state) again,” said head coach Bill Armstrong. “The twins… they sort of set the standard. They know what they have to do, and it’s nice to have those kinds of kids.”

‘FIRE AND ICE’

According to Armstrong, Grant and Marcus have worked as hard as anyone during the offseason, utilizing Overlake’s new strength and conditioning coach to fine-tune their bodies.

“Those guys were in that facility all summer,” Armstrong noted. “It’s now become a thing at this school. If you want to get better in the offseason, you have to spend the time. You really see a difference in their quickness.”

Although he admits that their playing styles are fairly similar, the biggest difference in the two identical twins is their demeanor.

“It’s a bit of fire and ice,” Armstrong explained. “Grant’s the more fiery one, whereas Marcus is certainly more of a rock. But they both get amped up.”

In talking with the brothers, they were able to put their traditional sibling rivalry behind them and are looking forward to working together on the tennis court.

“We’ve played together a lot and we know each other’s personalities,” said Marcus, who trains with Grant at Mill Creek Tennis Club. “On the court now, we don’t get angry at each other as much as we try to help each other out.”

Added Grant, “It’s fun, and it’s different. It’s kind of been a learning curve, but I feel like we will be pretty dominant by the end of the season.”

In addition to the Munoz twins, the Owls also return one of the state’s most dominating players, junior Trym Torvund, who never lost a set the entire season until the state finals when he fell to Cascade Christian’s Nathan Anderson, 6-1, 6-4.

Torvund has been playing at Central Park Tennis Club to keep his game sharp, and even qualified for a men’s tournament in Spain over the summer.

“When I started (in league play) last year, I didn’t have any real competition,” he said. “Now I know that there is something out there, and that makes me more focused towards the state tournament.”

The player at No. 2 singles, who came on as a surprise, is Grant Gibson, a freshman short in stature but big on talent.

“He’s got a lot of tennis (knowledge) for a ninth-grader,” Armstrong said. “He keeps the ball in play, he keeps it deep.”

Gibson is thrilled just to be able to play as a freshman, and hopes that as he grows physically stronger, he will be able to keep up against the bigger, taller players in the league.

“In seventh grade I talked to another kid in my grade and he said I didn’t have a chance to make varsity freshman year,” recalled Gibson, who used that statement as motivation to get better. “I feel pretty confident. But I know I have a lot of work to do this year.”

ROCK ‘EM, SOCK ‘EM

While the Emerald City League is fairly weak this season, except for powerhouse University Prep, the extremely tough Quad-District tournament is anything but a walk in the park.

There, schools from four leagues compete for a very limited number of state spots, meaning players will have to be on top of their games to have a chance to crash the Big Dance.

“It’s going to be Charles Wright in districts, they’re loaded,” Armstrong noted. “They have the state doubles champions returning (Stan Peterson/Chris Gugliuzza) and an outstanding singles player (Daniel Ham).”

The longtime coach added that while state doubles action, which he described as “rock ‘em, sock ‘em,” is highly unpredictable, he says there are four or five clear-cut favorites in singles to make a deep run.

“And Trym is one of them,” Armstrong noted.

While the district will send a maximum of four entries to the combined 1B/2B/1A state tournament, Armstrong believes that in order to contend for a state team title, he will have to produce a state champion, and also place with at least one other entry.

“The bottom line is, you’ve got to get two entries there… because Charles Wright is so deep.” he said.

But for the kids, they will simply be looking to end their season with a bang, and hopefully some state hardware.

“I think our team has a chance to do really well,” Marcus said. “Trym’s coming back from getting second in state, and we have a couple new freshmen who are doing really well this year.”

When asked whether the twins felt like they could win it all this spring, the right-handed Munoz counterpart gave a short and sweet response, akin to his tennis stroke.

“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Grant said.