The Palo Alto boys’ tennis team (20-3) will advance into the quarterfinals of the Central Coast Section playoffs after defeating Salinas, 7-0, on Friday in the second round of CCS.
Playing in the dry heat, the squad battled the Salinas Cowboys and was able to overpower Salinas with greater focus and endurance. Paly worked to earn every point, despite being the favorite to win.
Coming off seven straight victories, most recently defeating Homestead and Gunn in league play, Paly was confident going into the match. The Vikings were hoping to roll easily into next week’s CCS quarterfinal. Salinas came into the match Friday after scraping by Piedmont Hills High School, 4-3, on Wednesday, May 6.
At No. 1 singles, senior Sam Wong battled junior Farren Casad. The two exchanged ferocious forehands and backhands, but after two long sets, Wong emerged on top 6-4, 6-2, demonstrating his greater focus. Wong was able to force Casad to make tough shots, and to cover the entire court, wearing him out. The skillful play let Wong put more pressure on Casad after the first set.
“I didn’t rely on my serve,” said Wong. “I was hitting some good shots off my backhand and my forehand was consistent. I’m happy for my team to go 7-0, it’s a big confidence booster going into the next round.”
At No. 2 singles, freshman Nicky Hu battled senior John Hackbort. The match demonstrated Hu’s endurance and mental toughness, which enabled him to work past poorer play early on and find a groove. After two sets, Hu emerged the victor, 6-4, 6-2. The competitors exchanged long rallies, demonstrating impressive strokes.
Hu’s hard-earned victory showed his superior ability to keep focus. Despite being down 4-3 in the first set, Hu remained composed. However, Hackbort was unable to keep his head in the game after losing the first set. Using this to his advantage, Hu gained points off shots that Hackbort hit out of bounds or into the net.
Senior Dan Schwartz played No. 3 singles and overcame his opponent, sophomore Ty Giacalone, 6-1, 6-3. Wanting to get off the courts quickly due to the brutal heat, Schwartz pushed himself to end the match quickly. Using strong serves and aggressive spin, Schwartz caught Giacalone off-guard. However, in the second set, Giacalone began to adapt to Schwartz’s serve, picking up several points in the second set. But ultimately, Schwartz quickly came up with a way to put points away.
“He [Giacalone] was putting up a good fight at the beginning of the set,” said Schwartz. “At the end I had trouble closing it out. I mostly capitalized on hitting big serves and at the end of the match he started standing really far back and hitting angles. I ended up hitting kick serves pushing him farther back, giving me time to come up and put it away.”
At No. 4 singles, senior John Mitchell romped over his opponent, senior Brennon Patton, to earn a 6-0, 6-0 victory. Mitchell’s consistent play and ability to play one point at a time led to his impressive victory. Despite Patton’s forceful strokes, Mitchell was able to respond with aggressive returns, causing Patton to miss or hit the ball in ways which made it easy for Mitchell to put it away.
“I think I just stayed consistent,” said Mitchell. “But at the same time I wasn’t too reserved; I just hit the shots that usually hit. It’s [the match] just a confidence builder; we need all the team bonding we can get.”
Playing No. 1 doubles, senior Alan Chen and junior Drew Pearson, faced senior Steven Bateman and Chris Barbeau. The contest came down to the team who could take advantage of the other’s mistakes, and in this case Chen and Pearson were able to do this, and earned a 6-1, 6-1 victory.
Chen and Pearson forced careless errors and used potent volleys to overcome their opponents. Furthermore, the pair rarely missed, capitalized on easy shots, and kept the ball in play as long as possible, allowing them to take fewer risks and let Bateman and Barbeau to make the mistakes.
“I think we volleyed really well,” said Chen. “We served really well so we never really got broken. Everything was just working today. I think we were able to just hit better volleys and finish points better there were a couple games where we played the more important point than they did. Hopefully we’ll do really well in the next match. Hopefully we can play an easy match and move on to the finals of CCS.”
At No. 2 doubles, juniors Peter Tseng and Grant Audet battled sophomore Brian Horne and freshman Andre Carrouza. The Paly pair easily overcame the inexperienced Salinas team 6-0, 6-0. First off the courts, Tseng and Audet had no trouble defeating their opponents. Using difficult shots, the Vikings were able to outsmart and overpower the Salinas duo with well-placed strokes.
Senior Cory McCroskey and junior Alex Freeman defeated junior Brian Guidotti and freshman Jeff Reeves at No. 3 doubles. Despite playing poorly early in the first set, McCroskey and Freeman stepped their game up and focused on how to overcome their opponents. Guidotti and Reeve’s ability to vary their shots prevented the Paly team from finding a rhythm, but once they regrouped they were able to use topspin and excellent serves to defeat their opponents.
Head coach Andy Harader is confident going into Monday’s match.
“It’s always good when you get the first match,” said Harader. “Going into Monday, I’m optimistic, I don’t see it as being anything hard; I think we just need to play well, and play our games, and win it. They’re a self-motivated team; they’re there automatically.”
Paly will play Aptos High School in the CCS quarterfinals at 3:00 p.m. on May 11 at home.
Senior Dan Schwartz is a member of The Paly Voice.