Glenelg Country School coach Dennis Cochran was hoping that his team could beat Archbishop Spalding, 3-2, for the MIAA B Conference championship Monday afternoon at Severn Valley Tennis Club. That was his thoughth, considering that his team had lost to Spalding, 3-2, during their regular season match.

"My best hope was 4-1 and my best guess was going to be 3-2," Cochran said.

But the Dragons did neither. Instead they swept their opponents, 5-0, winning their school's first boys tennis title in stunning fashion.

Entering the match, top-seeded Spalding was undefeated at 9-0 while Glenelg Country had lost twice, dropping into the third seed.

But the Dragons avenged one of those losses in the MIAA B semifinals, defeating Key, 3-2.

"We've really built on the momentum. We had a tough win in the semifinals, so our guys knew that they could win it. It was just a matter of believing," said junior Ryan Kent, the team's top singles player.

Kent won his match against Zach Fritz, 6-3, 6-0. On May 16, Kent defeated Fritz for the MIAA B No. 1 singles individual crown. At No. 2 singles, senior Will Garrett dominated his able Spalding rival, 6-0, 6-0. Garrett, whose older brother Peter played No. 2 singles for Glenelg Country last season, was playing in his fourth conference finals.

"I always thought we had the talent. The difference between this year and the other years was the guys really were motivated to improve," said Garrett, whose brother Peter was in attendance to finally see the Dragons earn their banner.

With quick wins by Kent and Garrett -- a devastating one-two punch -- the Dragons were off to an early lead, but even though they needed only one win from their No. 3 singles or either doubles team, the match was far from over.

The No. 1 doubles team of sophomores Trevor Baum and Evan Kelley (cobbled together after John Garrett strained a muscle in his arm in mid-April) lost early in the individual tournament May 16 and the No. 2 doubles team of Adam Donovan and Kyle Rothman was swept decisively by their Spalding opponents in that same tournament. While warming up, Rothman had his racket ripped out of his hand by a powerful serve from one of his much taller opponents.

Surprisingly, it was the outsized and unheralded No. 2 doubles team that left the court first, this time with the match clinching, 6-2, 6-3 victory.

"I thought perhaps someone had invaded their bodies," Cochran said. "We finally did it."

Shortly after the match was clinched, Baum and Kelley ended a 7-5, 4-6, 7-5 test of endurance, and the rout was on. No. 3 singles Vik Kumar, who by all accounts should have won his first meeting with his Cavalier rival, avenged a loss and finished the sweep all at once with a 6-4, 7-5 victory.

"I thought it would be a close match ... but they won all the close matches and they won the matches that weren't close," Spalding coach Bob Detrich said. "We got our butts kicked."

E-mail Andrew Conrad at aconrad@patuxent.com.

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