Based on total state championships Seattle Prep’s greatest and most successful sport is Men’s Tennis. Matt Zech ‘17, captain and senior on the Seattle Prep Tennis team, is striving to apply all he’s learned from his four years at prep and win state this year with his partner Alex Blattner ‘19.
Zech ‘17 began playing tennis at the age of seven but it was never his true focus until he came into the competitive tennis environment that is Seattle Prep.
As a freshman, he quickly began to learn from Luke Targett ‘14 and developed his skills to varsity caliber. He claims Targett ‘14 taught him the importance of motivating your partner during double and playing every match with an intensity that couldn’t be matched. Zech ‘17 has applied that to his game play this year and has also radiated it outwards to his partner and the rest of his team.
Zech spoke on the successful history saying: “It motivates me to want to contribute to the impressive legacy of Prep tennis.” Zech ‘17 claims his favorite memory from playing tennis at Seattle Prep is from last year, in the metro championship. He describes the comeback from a 2-5 deficit against the star of Lakeside as an “amazing and humbling experience” and although the team lost overall, Zech says he learned a lot.
Zech represents all that is Seattle Prep Tennis. He’s a student first athlete second kind of guy and works his hardest to develop himself and the players around him to their fullest potential. Hopefully he can lead the way for the Blattner-Zech duo to a state championship.