There was a lot riding on today’s match against the Cougars.  For starters, Campolindo defeated the Dons 8-1 in our season opener back on March 16.  The team wanted payback.  Secondly, going into the match, Acalanes and Campolindo were the only two teams in the league left with only one loss.  The winner of this match would take sole possession of first place – for the time being.  That being said, the boys went on to win today 6-3 which improves our overall league record to 5-1.  And yes, we are now on top and in control of our destiny this season.  We aren’t done yet though as we battle Miramonte (away) and Northgate twice over the next week and a half.   Both teams are rock solid and will require us to bring our A game. 

The start of today’s match was identical to our start against Miramonte earlier this week.  We were immediately up 4-0 as Toni, Owens, Ledezma and Reeder secured wins in their singles spots.  Toni and Owens played impeccably and cruised to easy wins; both only gave up one game each.  Ledezma had to work a little harder to win the first set 6-4, and then breezed through the second set 6-1.  Reeder had a slow start and then found his stride, winning the second set and then the deciding tiebreaker 10-8.  Brewer and Snyder battled hard in matches that could have gone either way.

As the doubles teams took the court, Acalanes was leading 4-2 and we needed to secure just one more win to get the team victory.  Again, it was Brown and Hoeberechts who pulled off the clutch win in straight sets (they did the same against Miramonte earlier in the week).  They are gelling as a team at the right time in the season.   Shortly after, Bonner and Cortez padded the team victory with a hard-fought three-set win putting the Dons up 6-3.  Kudos go out to Fitzpatrick and Foster who played together for the first time and barely missed getting the win going down 10-8 in the deciding tiebreaker.

Needless to say, the coaches were extremely proud of the team’s performance, and the players were fired up to get this critical win.  They get a little rest this weekend and then we play Miramonte in an away match on Tuesday.  My thanks again to our supporters.  We had a large crowd at this match and every clap and positive word helped.  Go Dons.  Coach Rick

Results – Acalanes defeated Campolindo (6-3)

Singles

#1 Tyler Toni (A) defeated Kiumars Koopah (C) 6-0, 6-1

#2 Nick Owens (A) defeated Edgar Alford (C) 6-1, 6-0

Linus Wirstrom (C) defeated #3 Tucker Brewer (A) 6-3, 7-5

Rex Pastore (C) defeated #4 Zach Snyder (A) 3-6, 6-4, 10-6

#5 Diego Ledezma (A) defeated Henry Heidersback (C) 6-4, 6-1

#6 Ace Reeder (A) defeated Aditya Kapur (C) 1-6, 6-4, 10-8

Doubles

#1 Aaron Brown/Kaya Hoeberechts (A) defeated James Martin/Ivan Zemsky (C) 6-4, 6-3

Viggo Wirstrom/Luke Yan (C) defeated #2 Liam Fitzpatrick/Sammy Foster (A) 6-2, 5-7, 10-8

#3 Riley Bonner/James Cortez (A) defeated Tyler Panos/Brady Adams (C) 6-4, 2-6, 10-5