NIWOT >> Very little has been able to drag Boulder boys tennis down this fall, and senior No. 1 singles man Andre Parham was a sparkling example of its talent on a scorching Friday afternoon.

In his finals match of the Granite Peaks League tournament, held at Niwot High School, Parham executed a quick, 6-1 victory over Monarch’s Troy Gomez in the first set, then sprinted ahead to a 3-0 lead in the second before Gomez bowed out due to injury.

In doing so, he padded an already-impressive 14-2 record, saying that a state championship will be the next goal to check off of his list. The Panthers entered the tournament with an 8-1 dual record.

“In the first set, I was playing well,” Parham said. “I was swinging out on my forehand. I was trusting my shots and then I feel like I was executing at short balls and executing at the net, and that made the difference in that match.

“I feel like my serve’s been a big weapon that’s helped me dictate points. I’ve been trying to work on putting a lot more kick on it and then also having flat on it. Not only can I change my spot and my direction; I can also change the spin to kind of throw guys off. I feel like that’s given me a lot of free points.”

Gomez came into the tournament with five wins, showcasing his skill and mental fortitude on the court through each set he was healthy for.

He believes the adversity he faced on Friday, as well as the success he experienced leading up to that point, will only help him when regionals roll around in a couple of weeks.

“Every time I hit the ball or twisted my hips, it would just create a sharp pain, and I just stopped having the ability to run. There was really no point in continuing, but I’m not going to be salty about it,” Gomez said. “Matches like the semifinal I played, where I’m on double break and it’s just up to me to finish it off and then I lose and I just have to reset myself, I know I can do that. I never count myself out.”The Panthers, it seemed, saved the theatrics for No. 2 singles. Senior Blake Curl faced a tough test from Niwot’s Charlie Kirtland in the first set, dropping it 7-6, before storming back in the second to throw Kirtland off of his game and win 6-1. Whatever energy evaded the Niwot junior reappeared in the third, forcing Curl once again to push toward a 7-6 win.

He believed the tough competition he saw at the tournament will only sharpen himself and the rest of the team for what’s to come, no matter if it’s the Class 5A dual state tournament or the individual regionals. “I’d say we were both pretty tired, given we played pretty long matches before,” Curl explained. “There were a lot of long points, and I thought it was impressive for him to come back from the second set and play hard in the third. We had a really good match. It was probably my most enjoyable match this year.”

Kirtland, who returns as the Times-Call player of the year, believes that the new cross-classification style in the first year of the Granite Peaks League will make him stronger for what he’ll see in the upcoming weeks.

He said he didn’t have a single easy match this season. “It was a very tight match. We both held serve a lot, so it was hard to break the second set. I kind of lost momentum and got a bit tired,” Kirtland explained. “(Boulder and Fairview) are new in our conference this year, so it was definitely fun to play better people. Last year, we were all 4A. Not to diss on anyone in 4A, but the competition at 5A is a lot better this year.”