STERLING – The Sterling boys tennis team came out hot Thursday evening against Rock Island, securing singles and doubles wins in the opening matches before pulling away for a 5-0 Western Big 6 conference win.

In No. 1 singles, Brecken Peterson prevailed 6-0, 6-0 over Joe Brune, giving the Golden Warriors an early lead.

“The key to winning it was loosening up,” Peterson said. “I played really tight at the beginning, in the first match of the season, and I just need to loosen up, hit my shots and just trust my game.”

The momentum created by the opening match win carried through the rest of the evening.

Connor Pham added to the lead in the No. 2 singles slot, defeating Drew Jarding 6-0, 6-0, and inching the Golden Warriors closer to victory.

“Honestly, it was mostly in my head. I had to think, like, I’m on the same level,” Pham said, of his battle with Jarding. “I was making a lot of dumb mistakes in the beginning, so I just had to cut those out of my game.”

At No. 1 doubles, Luke Valentino and Carter Morris squared off against Peh Lay and Ian Empen, securing a hard-fought 6-3, 6-7 (3), 10-8 victory after a back-and-forth battle.

Benjamin Boze and Kayden Loos topped Ethan Smithson and Julian Anderson 6-2, 6-0 in No. 2 doubles, while Ethan Melcher and Hunter Lofgren beat Cody Wolf and Nathan Hendrickx 6-0, 6-0 in No. 3 doubles, completing the series sweep.

“Just keeping the balls in, really. We just focused on consistency and making sure we got our serves in, because most of the times when we got our serves in, we won the point,” Loos said about the key to his and Boze’s doubles win. “Other than that, just making sure we attacked the ball, too. Trying to stay more offensive, if not playing as defensive-minded.”

With nearly its entire roster returning from last year and another offseason to improve, Sterling carries high expectations through the rest of the 2022 season.

The Golden Warriors believe they’ll match up well in conference this season.

“I think we’ve got a really good chance at winning conference, and I think we’re going to have a pretty successful season,” Loos said. “We’re gonna play against a couple tough teams that we lost to last year, but everybody on our team got better this year. We’re returning all players, so I think we’re gonna have a pretty good shot at winning conference, and maybe winning a sectional, too.”

“I think our team’s really solid,” Peterson said. “I think, as a team, we’re going to do pretty good in conference and place in the top half, hopefully pretty high. It’s a good conference, everyone’s good, so we’ll see what happens.”

“Our team looks really good right now,” Pham said. “We have a very strong and deep lineup, so I have good hopes.”

Sterling coach Mike Gottemoller felt the win was a testament to the offseason and in-season work his players put in.

“First of all, we’ve got a lot of guys that worked really hard this year, all offseason,” Gottemoller said. “Today was tribute to what they did. We’ve got a lot of room to work, room to grow, there’s a lot of stiff competition out there, a lot of good teams in the area, and we hope we measure up.”

Peterson and Pham each played an extra singles match against Rock Falls and Morrison, respectively, as neither the Rockets nor the Mustangs have full teams.

Peterson defeated Rock Falls’ Dawson Newendyke 6-1, 6-0, while Pham topped Morrison’s Mark Cyphers 7-5, 6-0.