By Austin Lee
The varsity boys’ tennis team scored a narrow victory over Peninsula 10-8 last Wednesday, and continued a month-long winning streak with another victory, 14-4 over Chaminade, boosting its overall record to 16-3 and its league record to 8-0.
Following the two week long spring break, the team scored a second win against Loyola and defeated Beverly Hills and St. Francis. The team defeated those teams smoothly, but encountered a relatively tough opponent in Beverly Hills, but the team did manage to pull off a win even with a considerable number of players substituted in.
“We are just getting back into our stride after a two week break,” Head Coach Chris Simpson said. “Three wins this week was good for the guys, but we need to get match fit again as tougher matches are on the way.”
However, in their match against Peninsula, the team only gained victory after several close matches, escaping a game count by one set.
Jackson Frons ’12 scored a key victory against Peninsula’s singles 1 player, Shuhei Shibahara, coming back from a 3-5 deficit to win the set 7-5.
In addition, the doubles pair of Roy Murdock ’11 and Max Rothman ’14, playing in the doubles 3 position, went on to defeat Peninsula’s doubles 2 pair and the Matt Wagner ’11 and Harrison Kalt ’13 pair defeated Peninsula’s doubles 3 pair.
“I feel that the team did well against Peninsula,” Frons said. “I’m happy about my win, but it was just one match. The win was a team effort.”
The team then went on to defeat Chaminade by a rather wide margin.
Both Jeffrey Bu ’12 and Frons played and defeated Chaminade’s singles 1 player, after which Frons was substituted out and Bu went on to sweep the remainder of his matches.
Meanwhile, the Wagner and Kalt pair swept their matches, defeating all three of their doubles opponents.
The team will be participating in the upcoming Ojai Tournament, where Frons will represent the school in singles for his second year and the Wagner and Kalt pair will represent the school in doubles.
The team will be playing against Santa Barbara today, which promises to be one of the key matches in determining the crucial final seed of the team in the upcoming CIF playoffs.
Currently, the team is on track to become the fourth seed in CIF, which may lead to a semifinal against University for the third year in a row, but a loss against Santa Barbara will drop the team to a lower seed.
“Playoffs are the third phase of the season and training is geared to playing big points like holding service games and converting on break points,” Simpson said. “Fitness as a whole increases and we get match tough.”
