The boys were back in action today on the road at Clayton Valley Charter. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought the whole team started the afternoon off with a triple shot of espresso as they were wired for sound before we even started the match. We also had three players who came up ill and had to miss. Fortunately, we were short-handed against the Ugly Eagles (yes – that is their mascot) as they are a young and novice team. We had a lot of fun playing them.
Clayton Valley has six courts so all singles lines kicked off the match. There was neither drama nor suspense today as the first five singles lines finished and the results were straight-set wins. I won’t break down each match because you can see in the scores below that we were clearly the more experienced team. I did feel badly that #1 Hoeberechts was the only loss. Bora was supposed to have the day off. Before the match, I got calls from #2 Shah and #3 Sze You Chen saying they were home sick, so I had to pivot and activate Bora. In addition, he had to play in the #1 spot. He put up a valiant effort against Yoshimoto but lost 6-4, 6-4. The three doubles teams also finished quickly and were pretty lopsided wins. Instead of providing commentary on each match, I’ll highlight a few firsts that I observed today.
First of all, #3 Taylor didn’t finish last today. I call Sammy Chatterbox as he spends as much time in conversation with his opponents as he does playing tennis. He is our social animal, and we wouldn’t have him any other way. We also had another first in our #1 doubles match as Marshall inadvertently hit an overhead right into his opponent’s special private area causing a delay in the match and almost the need for an icepack. All players and spectators got a good laugh. Blake and Cameron went on to win the match 6-0, 6-0. Brewer and King paired up for the first time playing #2 doubles and gave up only two games routing Pili/Cachola.
The rest of the season is going to be tough. We first go back and play Campolindo (away), Miramonte (home) and then Northgate (away). The following week is Head Royce and Bishop O’Dowd, both home, and then we go right into the DAL singles/doubles tournament. We will put up our strongest lineup and may the best teams win. Hopefully, our sick players get well soon, and we are fully staffed for Campolindo on Thursday. We had a nice turnout at Clayton Valley and thank you again to our parents who made the trip and cheered us on. Go Dons! Coach Rick
Results: Acalanes defeated Clayton Valley 8-1
Singles
David Yoshimoto (CV) defeated #1 Bora Hoeberechts (A) 6-4, 6-4
#2 Sammy Taylor (A) defeated Emrah Daunish (CV) 6-1, 6-3
#3 Chris Gorham (A) defeated Ryan Teixeira (CV) 6-4, 6-0
#4 James Ammerman (A) defeated Enzo Menezes (CV) 6-0, 6-0
#5 Grant Cortez (A) defeated Charleston Jenkins (CV) 6-0, 6-0
#6 Billy O’Brien (A) defeated Shane White (CV) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles
#1 Cameron Fisher/Blake Marshall (A) defeated Ethan Martinez/Rafael Cachola (CV) 6-0, 6-0
#2 Rhett Brewer/Alex King (A) defeated Zack Pili/Gabe Cachola (CV) 6-1, 6-1
#3 Vedant Todi/Nolan Roberts (A) defeated Manni Maqsoodi/Osvaldo Aragon (CV) 6-1, 6-1
