On paper, at least, the boys tennis match Tuesday between Washington and Kennedy looked to be a toss-up.

Both 9-3 in MVC dual conference play behind once-beaten Linn-Mar in the Mississippi Division of the Mississippi Valley Conference, they seemed similarly matched.

Instead, it turned out to be a rout as the Warriors won all but one singles pairing while coasting to an 8-1 victory in the regular season finale at Kennedy.

“I  really thought it would be close, and not so one-sided,” said Kennedy Coach Craig Bova. “We lost a couple of three-setters in singles. If we’d have won those, I think it would have changed the way some of the kids played doubles.”

First-year Washington Coach Rusty Graff was equally surprised by the outcome.

“I wouldn’t have expected it,” he said. “But we played well. And it’s good to see the kids improving at the right time of the year.”

The Warriors host a district tournament Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Tennis Center, while Kennedy has district play Thursday at Linn-Mar.

The match of the day Tuesday was a nearly two-hour slugfest between No. 4 singles players Ian Schweiger of Washington and Brett Blomberg of Kennedy. It started out in sunshine, turned cloudy with drizzle and ended with the lights on.

Marked by long volleys between two very methodical underclassmen, the match went down to the super tiebreaker 11-9 closing by Schweiger.

The Cougars’ only win came from undefeated No. 1 singles leader Riley Galbraith. He fell behind Washington’s  Mitch Blades 3-0 in the first set but rallied for a 6-4, 6-1 victory.

“I kind of choked after getting ahead,” Blades said. “But he’s  a pretty darned good player.”

WASHINGTON 8, KENNEDY 1

Singles

1. Riley Galbraith (K) def. Mitch Blades, 6-4, 6-1.
2. Mitch Anderson (W) def. Mitch Martin, 6-2, 6-1.
3. Clayton Hoyt (W) def. Arjun Venkatesh, 7-6, 6-2.
4. Ian Schweiger (W) def. Brett Blomberg, 6-4, 6-7, 1-0.
5. Reid Rossberger (W) def. Jimmy Cunningham, 0-6, 6-4, 1-0.
6. Blaine Hartman (W) def. Trevor Oates, 6-0, 6-1.

Doubles

1. Anderson/Hoyt (W) def. Galbraith/Martin, 6-3, 6-2.
2. Blades/Rossberger (W) def. Venkatesh/Oates, 6-2, 6-1.
3. Schweiger/Hartman (W) def. Blomberg/Cunningham, 6-2, 6-0.