When you hear Acalanes was 2-2 overall for the tournament, it sounds like we were mid pack and had an okay tournament; however, that’s not really the case.  I had to take some time to think about exactly what our ten boys accomplished.  Let me see if I can unpack the last two days so they receive the recognition they deserve.  There were nine divisions in the tournament – division one being the strongest teams in California.  Even missing three of our top ten players, Acalanes was placed in division two.  In any other year, going 1-1 on day one would have moved us to a flight on day 2 that included the other teams that went 1-1.  This year, we were placed in the winner’s flight facing teams that went 2-0 on day one.  As you read on, you will see we won our first match against Buchanan 4-2 and then lost to the eventual flight winner, San Luis Obispo 2-4.  We went 6-6 overall.  When the matches were completed, San Luis Obispo was 7-5 and Buchanan was 5-7.  These are two tough teams but any player on our squad would tell you – we had our chances.  Our boys put in an honest and fully dedicated effort to win their matches and did it with great sportsmanship.  And for those reasons alone, Coach Peter and I were proud.

If I tried to take you through the entire day in detail, Gone with the Wind would seem like a Reader’s Digest story.  Therefore, I’ll go through some of the highlights of each match, and you can review the line scores further below.

Our first match was against Buchanan, and we were playing on their home courts.  #1 Sze Ting Chen, #2 Sze You Chen, #3 Sammy Taylor and #2 doubles team Cameron Fisher/Blake Marshall scored the four wins.  Of those four, #2 Yoyo’s match was the closest and he was everywhere!  Yoyo won the first set 6-3 but dropped the second 4-6.  In the deciding super tiebreaker, Yoyo and Elrod were trading nice shots and winners.  It was tight but Yoyo won the key points towards the end that counted and edged Elrod 10-7.  #1 Sze Ting and #3 Sammy were dominant and stayed comfortably in front from beginning to end.  #2 Fisher/Marshall won their third straight match in the tournament.  We started the morning off on a positive note.

Second up was San Luis Obispo.  We studied their line up the night before and suspected they might stack, so we countered with the same.  What does that mean?  Stacking means moving your top singles players to doubles to try to get an advantage against lower-ranked players on the team.  It is legal but must be done by the rules.  We were correct – and both teams ended up stacking.  #1 Sze Ting Chen registered his second win of the morning with an absolute romp over Wells 6-0, 6-1.  We moved our #8 player Nolan Roberts to #2 singles, and he unfortunately ran into SLO’s #2 seed Grant Vonclef who won 6-0, 6-1.  The results of the doubles lines were not what we hoped.  Our boys were swept by the strong SLO players with the closest match being #3 Fisher/Marshall’s 10-3 loss after splitting sets.   We were now mathematically eliminated as we were down 1-4.  However, all attention then shifted to the last match going.  Our #9 player, Chris Gorham was playing #3 singles.  Because SLO also stacked, he was up against their #6 player Ortiz.  Saying they were evenly matched would be absolutely accurate.  They played very long points and split the first two sets.  Both teams lined the fences cheering on their players and it was stubborn and feisty Chris who pulled off the win 11-9 in the deciding tiebreaker.  The team stormed the court, and we went out on a positive note.   Because the team was 1-1 at this point, we had to wait until San Luis Obispo played Buchanan to see if we had a chance to still win the flight.  When we realized we hadn’t, we hit the road for Acalanes. 

Because this tournament has been rained out two of the last four years, it’s worth noting that the weather was perfect for tennis.  The tennis facilities at the Fresno and Clovis high schools are impressive – they all seem to have 12-18 courts.  And even though we were in Fresno, the Marshall family and Yen-Liang came out to support us on day two.  It was a nice surprise.

I’d like to close by thanking Coach Peter and especially Anne (Sze Ting and Yoyo’s mother).  Coach Peter drove boys and cargo to and from Fresno and shared the coaching and chaperoning duties.  Anne also drove and took care of the logistics – hotel, restaurants, snacks, etc.  This trip is not possible without help, so thank you both sincerely.

Next week we kick off our regular season with a home match on Tuesday against Campo and an away match on Thursday against Miramonte.  Look forward to seeing our family supporters.   Go Dons!  Coach Rick

 

Results: Acalanes defeated Buchanan 4-2

Singles

#1 Sze Ting Chen (A) defeated Hudson Lee (B) 6-0, 6-2

#2 Sze You Chen (A) defeated Brady Elrod (B) 6-3, 4-6, 10-7

#3 Sammy Taylor (A) defeated Archie Bawa (B) 6-2, 6-3

Doubles

Cilliers du Plessis/Teegan/Torosian (B) defeated #1 Bora Hoeberechts/Rhett Brewer (A) 6-1, 7-6 (2)

#2 Cameron Fisher/Blake Marshall (A) defeated Coleson Gasser/Andrew Fryer (B) 6-2, 6-4

Pierce Pope/Traceur Cluff (B) defeated #3 Nolan Roberts/Reed Lusch (A) 6-1, 6-2

 

Results: San Luis Obispo defeated Acalanes 4-2

Singles

#1 Sze Ting Chen (A) defeated Neil Wells (SLO) 6-0, 6-1

#2 Grant Vanclef (SLO) defeated Nolan Roberts (A) 6-0, 6-1

#3 Chris Gorham (A) defeated Diego Ortiz (SLO) 4-6, 6-3, 11-9

Doubles

Alex Corbo/Mason MacDonald (SLO) defeated #1 Sze You Chen/Bora Hoeberechts (A) 6-2, 6-3

Mason Lebed/Cole Vanclef (SLO) defeated #2 Sammy Taylor/Rhett Brewer (A) 6-2, 6-3

Will Pedikis/Finlee Shih (SLO) defeated #2 Cameron Fisher/Blake Marshall (A)  7-5, 2-6, 10-3