Tennis skills part of player’s family tree

By Christopher Drexel

Friday, Oct. 10, 2008 | midnight

Tennis is in Brandon Parker's blood.

The Palo Verde Panthers senior comes from a long line of top tennis players from Southern Nevada.

Initially, it was his father, Jeff Parker, who won matches for Clark in the early 1970s. Then older sisters Kimber, 29, and Jaime, 26, made a name for the family as standouts for Cimarron-Memorial, before Palo Verde was built in Summerlin. Jaime Parker went on to play for BYU.

Then came Cameron Parker, who proved to be the Panthers' top singles player all four years he attended the school before graduating in 2004.

"We've all been raised with tennis," Brandon Parker said. "We've always gone to tournaments together. It's been a family thing."

Now he is eager to follow in his family's footsteps, especially his brother, who won a state singles championship in 2003 and currently plays for Harvard.

"He's been an inspiration for me to play tennis from the beginning," Parker said. " I've always wanted to play high school tennis ever since I first saw him play on a team here."

So far, Parker has done his kin proud. He went 40-0 playing doubles as a freshman and 42-1 in doubles as a sophomore, both years resulting in Sunset Region and state championships. He also competed in seven singles matches as a sophomore, winning every one of them.

Parker became a full-time singles player last season, finishing 15-2 and narrowly losing in the state tournament to eventual singles champion Evan Song of Green Valley High.

As a senior, Parker is the leader of a two-time defending state champion Palo Verde team that hasn't lost a match since 2005.

They advanced to the Oct. 10 Sunset Regional finals with a semifinals victory against Bishop Gorman Oct. 7. The individual regional tournament starts Oct. 14.

"We have a lot of good players in our starting nine. Even a couple that don't get the chance to play a lot would start at any other school in town," Palo Verde coach Zach Brandt said.

Parker was 12-0 as the team's No. 1 singles player in the regular season. He is also has a 4.8 grade point average and recently was named United States Tennis Association Scholar Athlete of the Year.

He is currently the association's top-ranked player among boys 18 and under in Nevada and No. 80 in the nation.

"He's a very physical young man," Brandt said. "He puts pressure on the other kids because he hits such a hard tennis ball. When they come here, they're not ready for some of the pace and heaviness of the ball he is hitting."

Parker recalls the last time Palo Verde lost a match like it was yesterday. It was to rival Bonanza for in the 2005 state championship match.

"That was a tough one to swallow," Parker said. "I could remember when I was in elementary school and my brother went here and it was Palo and Bonanza all the time. His team lost to Bonanza a couple times, so that has been a long rivalry."

Not as long a rivalry but perhaps just as intense of one is the rivalry Parker started at state last year with Song. Parker said he is looking forward to the opportunity to face the defending state champion again and earn a title of his own.

"Absolutely. It will be a close match if I get to play him again," Parker said of Song. "I'm looking forward to it to get some revenge. This is my last year, my last chance to take state in singles. There is definitely motivation to do what my brother did and get a singles title here."

Christopher Drexel can be reached at 990-8929 or [email protected].