Dons Varsity Boys’ Tennis Squad Takes Another on the Chin: Northgate 7, Acalanes 2

I’ll start by saying the match today was won fair and square by a Northgate team that looks and feels much stronger than last year’s team. Though they lost to Miramonte and Campolindo, the scores were 3-6 and 4-5 respectively. They are a contender in the DFAL league this season. That being said, today’s match was a tough pill to swallow. Yes, we were again missing our #1 and #6 players, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse. We had our chances in some of the closer matches. I know this will sound strange, but these losses are building character and teaching our younger players valuable lessons. The question now is can they apply what they’ve learned in a very short turnaround time. We’ll find out soon enough. I know the coaches and the boys will do everything they can to make it happen.

The overall match score was determined early as all six singles lines were lost. The closest of the six matches was #4 Shin’s loss to Nico Keep. Kyle lost the first set 6-1, but took the second set in a tiebreaker. He played a solid match as both players were trading quality groundstrokes and pushing each other all over the court. Unfortunately, the super tiebreaker went to Nico 10-6. #3 Hoeberechts, #5 Gorham and #6 Cortez all had tight first sets, but went down in straight sets.

The attention then shifted to the doubles, where we were hoping to score a few wins. We did get two. #1 Fisher/Marshall earned a great victory over Choi/Golovin 6-3, 7-5. It was a fun doubles match to watch. Cameron and Blake improve to 4-2 as a doubles team and continue to develop as partners. #2 Brewer/Ammerman lost the first set 6-1 but made a run in the second when down 2-5. They tied it at 5-5, but came up just short losing 7-5.

Similar to the Campo contest, the last match was a close one involving #3 Todi/Roberts. The match against Walsh/A. Rees was neck and neck from beginning to end. The results, two tiebreakers with Vedant and Nolan winning both to close the show. Both hit their share of winners, and they are gelling very well as a team. They deserved to win this close match.

We are in the heart of our season, so there is no rest for the weary (I’m talking about the coaches). We take on Benicia at home this Thursday. After two losses in a row, we need to get back on the winning track. It was a little on the hot side today, but I think we had our largest family turnout of supporters this season – we thank you so much. And we thank the Brewers who treated the team to Chick-fil-A sandwiches and a small buffet of snacks and fruit. No one on our squad ever goes hungry. I won’t stop bragging that we have the best fans in the league. Go Dons! Coach Rick

Current League Standings