After two consecutive years of Central Coast Section quarterfinal losses, the Palo Alto boys’ tennis team (21-3) let loose two years of frustration in a 5-2 win against visiting Aptos (19-3) on Monday.
The team, comprised of seven seniors, seven juniors, and only two underclassmen, showed poise and experience throughout the regular season on their way to a 21 win season. With the current group of seniors, head coach Andy Harader presided over an El Camino League crown (2007), De Anza League champion (2009), and three Central Coast Section playoff berths (2007-2009).
“This is the deepest, most talented and most inspired team that I’ve ever had,” Harader said. “Their depth and self-motivation is tremendous.”
Palo Alto was scheduled to play Aptos in their third match of the season, but did not due to a rain cancellation. Nevertheless, after years of matches against Aptos players on the junior circuit, Palo Alto knew that Aptos’ line up would be very strong in the No. 1, 2 and 3 singles spots.
Playing at No. 1 was senior Sam Wong and junior Jordan Kepler. Wong, normally a player who dominates his service games, had suffered a shoulder injury in prior weeks said that his serve was “only 30 percent.” However this did not stop Wong from battling through the pain before losing 3-6, 5-7. After the match Wong was very appreciative of his teammates and how much they improved.
“My freshman year we were a young team and we had a rebuilding season where we didn’t even make CCS,” Wong said. “Then, my sophomore and junior years we got to the quarters both years and our team developed tremendously in many ways. We used to lose all of our close matches, but the experience this team has has really shown itself this year.”
One player that certainly doesn’t have the years of team experience is Palo Alto freshman and No. 3 singles player Nicky Hu. Facing senior Parker Larsen, this lack of team experience did not stop Hu from dominating his match to the tune of 6-4, 6-1 victory.
“I was expecting a tough match against Parker,” Hu said. “I’ve beaten him once and lost to him once, so I knew from experience that he was a good player and that I had to come out and play well. I wanted to help the team so on the important points I focused really well.”
At No. 4 singles was senior Dan Schwartz. Schwartz, a multi-talented player who just won the SCVALs doubles title has been a presence on the team since his freshman year. Playing against Aptos’ Chris Giles, Schwartz disposed of his opponent with a 6-2, 6-4 straight set victory.
“Lefties are always tough to play, he had a tough serve but he didn’t break me the whole match and that really helped,” Schwartz said. “I think service games were the biggest factor in my match, and I broke him three times. In the second set he put up a good fight. I really had to focus to break him.”
The No. 1 doubles team of senior John Mitchell and junior Drew Pearson struggled early on, but bounced back quickly to win their match 6-4, 6-0. The combination of Pearson’s aces and Mitchell’s consistent play from the baseline proved too much for their Aptos counterparts to handle.
“I think what John and I did well was keep each other in check,” Pearson said. “There were a few times throughout the match when I would get frustrated and he would pull me back into it, or vice versa. We hadn’t played together for a while so our communication was a little rusty, but we pushed each other to play tough and the results followed.”
With the entire team having passed their quarterfinal exit point of the last two seasons, all eyes were on their 2007 tournament eliminator, Bellarmine. Palo Alto was swept 7-0 by the Bells in 2007 and looked for redemption in this year’s tournament. With a strong singles line up in place, Mitchell felt that a few things needed to happen for the doubles teams to emerge on top.
“Against Bellarmine, I think we need to work towards better communication because our match today would have been much more one-sided from the start had we communicated better,” Mitchell said. “Drew and I play our best when we both put points away at the net and are never too tentative or stay back at the baseline unnecessarily. Bellarmine has arguably the toughest doubles lineup in Northern California, so we need to be at the top of our game if we expect to win.”
No. 2 seeded Bellarmine soundly beat Palo Alto’s cross-town rival Gunn 7-0 at the Decathalon Club in Santa Clara on Wednesday. Before the tournament began, Harader felt that Palo Alto was more deserving of the No. 2 seed as No.1 seeded Menlo whipped the Bells, 5-2, while Paly only lost to Menlo by a score of 4-3.
“I really look forward to playing Bellarmine,” Harader said. “It will certainly be an interesting and hard fought match. It’s always been Monta Vista, Menlo, and Saratoga that dominates and wins CCS, but we’d like to change that this year.”
Paly will face Bellarmine at the Courtside Club in Los Gatos at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.