The Palo Alto boys’ tennis team (2-0) trounced Woodside (1-1), 5-1, on Wednesday at Paly and got some game practice in the non-league match.
Playing under clear skies, neither team seemed to notice or care that the match was unimportant for league standings. The Vikings and the Wildcats played without abandon, but it was eventually Paly’s superior focus that pulled the squad through.
After yesterday’s victory against cross-town rival Gunn, the Paly boys came into this match prepared and ready to hone their skills for tomorrow’s game against Lynbrook.
“This is really good practice for our singles players,” said Paly head coach Andy Harader. “They [Woodside] have a really good singles lineup.”
The Woodside team was still feeding off its recent victory over Mills High School and also came to try and practice for its big match against San Mateo High School the next day.
“This prepares them for the league match tomorrow,” Woodside head coach Stan Cartwright said Wednesday. “We don’t plan on losing.”
At no. 1 singles, Paly senior Drew Pearson filled in for sophomore Nicky Hu and battled against Woodside senior Mark Foti. Both athletes played well, but after Foti took the first set Pearson came back with a vengeance and ended up winning the match ((((insert score here))))
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Paly senior Chase Cooper played at no. 2 singles against junior Max Siegal. This was perhaps on of the more bizarre matches of the day. Cooper, after winning the first set, lost the second without winning a single game. In the third, Siegal and Cooper traded roles and it was Cooper who rolled over Siegal for Paly’s second win (((insert score here))))
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Playing no. 3 singles was Paly senior Peter Tseng who battled Junior Kevin Bui. After a hard-fought two sets Tseng gave up Paly’s only loss to Woodside 6-3, 6-4.
“It was a good match,” Bui said. “We both played hard for every point.”
Rounding out the Viking’s singles lineup in the no. 4 slot was senior Alex Freeman, he played junior Sam Cronin. Freeman was relaxed throughout the match and eventually won 6-2, 6-0.
“It was a good match to work on my skills,” Freeman said.
Leading off the doubles teams were Paly seniors Grant Audet and Jujhaar Singh hitting against Woodside seniors Manny Behrendt and Shunt Balushian. Audet and Singh had not played together before, but that wasn’t apparent from the game. They handily defeated their opponents 6-2, 6-0.
Playing no. 2 doubles for Paly were senior Michael Li and sophomore Jeffery Wang. They played Woodside juniors Evan Cann and Sam Kelly. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Kelly and Cann simply could not in this match, Li and Wang greater accuracy and speed grabbed Paly its last victory 6-2, 6-0.
“We had some trouble in the first set, but we found our rhythm in the second [set],” said Li.
Since this match was a non-league match it will not effect the standing of either team, but the Vikings now have two back to back wins to boost their confidence going into tomorrow’s match against Lynbrook in San Jose.