By Austin Lee
The boys’ tennis team scored three wins at the Dana Hills tournament Friday and Saturday, but lost against Saratoga in the finals, bringing its overall record to 9-3 and league record to 3-0.
The tournament had a different format than typical high school tennis. Each match consisted of five singles sets and three doubles sets.
The team won three matches in the tournament, including a very close match against Northwood which went into a tiebreaker. The Wolverines won by six games in the tiebreaker.
However, the team lost against Saratoga in the final round even though it started off the match 2-1, winning two of three doubles sets, but then losing all five of the singles sets.
“The finals against Saratoga were pretty heartbreaking,” co-captain Matt Wagner ’11 said. “They were a very strong team that we weren’t expecting to beat, but after going up 2-1, I think we were all feeling like we were about to take the championship.”
The team has had a relatively successful season thus far, losing only to University High School, the favorite for this year’s CIF championship, Palos Verdes and Saratoga.
The loss against University was expected, as University is the favorite to repeat as the CIF Division I champions. The match served more as a measure of how well the team would do against a top-seeded team.
“They will be the team to beat for the next years to come,” Head Coach Chris Simpson said. “It was important to see how our players would fare this early in the season.”
However, in the match against Palos Verdes, the team missed a big opportunity to win, as the team entered the final round tied at 6-6. It was not until that last round that the team dropped 5 sets, losing the match 7-11.
“Our loss to Palos Verdes probably should not have happened,” Wagner said. “We lost a ton of close sets throughout the day and we were feeling pretty confident about our chances going into the final round.”
The team’s upcoming games against Peninsula April 20 and Santa Barbara April 25 will be key in determining the team’s seed for the playoffs.
The team played against Notre Dame on Monday but the score of was not available at press time. The Wolverines will play Chaminade later today at California State University Northridge.
