After playing Palo Alto away late last week, Lynbrook had hoped that a change in scenery and a home field advantage would help it steal a victory from the heavily favored Paly team on Monday.
Going into the match, the Lynbrook Vikings had beaten Palo Alto (9-1, 3-0) a record four straight times on their home court and were looking to extend that streak to five. Nevertheless, the Palo Alto Vikings, fresh off of their No. 1 overall finish in the 108-team California Championship Tournament, had different ideas as they won the match, 6-1.
After suffering multiple heartbreaking losses at Lynbrook in the past, Paly came out expecting the unexpected and was ready for everything Lynbrook had to offer.
“There’s been a four-year-long curse on Paly tennis that we’ve always lost to Lynbrook while playing on their home courts, so we came into this match super focused,” senior No. 1 doubles player John Mitchell said. “We knew that we had to play well to beat them, and that’s what we did.”
Star freshman and No. 4 singles player Nicky Hu finished his match in less than an hour and was first off of the courts as he thoroughly destroyed his opponent, 6-0, 6-0. Hu, who posseses a blithering array of shots, had to only serve and return to win his match.
“I played No. 3 last time and had a little bit of a tougher match,” Hu said. “Today, everything was going smoothly and I was hitting my forehand pretty well. He wasn’t that bad of an opponent; I was just playing really well.”
Mitchell and his junior doubles partner Drew Pearson romped to a 6-1, 6-2 victory over their opponents. Mitchell, who had commonly been used as a singles player in last year’s line-ups, struggled early in the season with his new spot in the doubles rotation. Of late, however, Mitchell has come into his own playing for the team side of tennis.
“For Drew and me, it helped a lot that we had played our opponents recently because we were able to recognize their strategy and shut them down from the very start,” Mitchell said. “Our focus definitely showed in the match, and our tennis vastly improved from the last time we played against Lynbrook.”
The No. 3 doubles pair of juniors Alex Freeman and Grant Audet followed Mitchell and Pearson off the court with yet another resounding victory, 6-1, 6-4.
“Grant and I played a challenging match, but we knew we had to win because of the team’s losing streak at Lynbrook,” Freeman said, “so we stepped up our game and pulled through a victory. The people we played today were much better than the doubles team we played last week.”
No. 3 singles player Dan Schwartz proved to be the second senior off the court as he emerged with a relatively easy 6-3, 6-1 victory that was never in doubt. Schwartz’s individual loss last year against Lynbrook proved to be a deciding factor in the team’s loss, so his win was certainly enjoyed this year.
While No. 2 singles was a match that appeared close at first, sophomore Baramee Wongbongchai used his powerful forehand and quickness to thump his opponent, 6-1, 6-2.
Wongbongchai, who has only lost two matches on the season, had previously planned to play No. 1 on the team in the pre-season and earlier this year, but due to the tremendous play of senior Sam Wong and a multitude of injuries, has been forced to play No. 2.
Palo Alto did not drop a set all day except for No. 1 Wong who faced top ranked senior and arguably the best player in Central Coast Section, Eugene Muchinsky.
Wong dropped the first set, 4-6, before storming back in the second and winning, 6-2, to push the match to a third set tiebreaker. In last week’s match against Lynbrook, Wong lost to Muchinsky in straight sets, and seemed determined to better his result this time around. While he certainly did this, Wong fell in the third set tiebreaker, 7-10.
Following Monday’s 6-1 victory against Lynbrook, Palo Alto notched another victory to its record, this time against Los Altos High School, on Tuesday, 7-0.
The Vikings will play Monta Vista at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday at Monta Vista High School.