For those who have been following the tennis team closely, you will have noticed that our first four pre-season matches this year have been progressively against better teams culminating with the Branson match today. I have a lot of respect for the Branson players and coaching staff. Three years ago, when Acalanes made it to the second round of the NCS team championships, we were defeated soundly by the Bulls who are a fixture at the top of the division 2 rankings year after year. Before the match today, I told the boys this would be their toughest test so far, and it was.
All six singles matches took to the courts first. #6 Shah, who has been nothing short of dominant so far this season, wasted no time winning his line 6-1, 6-0. He is now 3-0, winning 36 out of 37 games played. Again, he got the team off to a good start. #1 Sze Ting Chen was second to finish and scored his first singles victory as a Don taking down Hoeveler in straight sets. His serve and groundstrokes were on point, and he was taking no prisoners today. The other four singles matches were extremely close. All were decided by third-set super tiebreakers. #4 Yoyo Chen won the first set, but his opponent Marco came storming back giving up only one game in the second set. The tiebreaker was tight, but Yoyo was edged 10-7 after a valiant fight. #4 Foster had a similar experience losing 10-4 in the third. Then some good news – #3 Eagens played a very competitive and grueling match against Ogborne. He won the first set 6-3 but the second set got away from him 1-6. He then stepped up his game and ran off to a 10-3 win in the third. #2 Owens was the last singles match to finish. Nick had a rough start losing the first set 3-6 while struggling a little with his serve. That changed in the second set as not only did he get back on track, his groundstrokes and serve sort of clicked back in and he dominated in the latter part of the match. The Dons were now up 4-2, needing just one of our doubles lines to win.
The suspense ended abruptly as #2 Rocca/Marshall outplayed Mao/Patel with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 win giving the Dons that fifth and deciding win. Dylan and Blake are quickly learning how to play effectively as a team and the chemistry is simply working. This time it was #3 Goldwyn/Ristow who provided the gravy with a straight set win as well. They are also playing very well as a team. Last to finish was the #1 Hoeberechts brothers who were in a real dogfight with Keenley/Yang. Unfortunately, they fell in a second set tiebreaker, but they are coming along as a doubles team and put up a good fight. That match could have gone either way. In the end, Don 6, Bulls 3.
Tomorrow, we travel to Brentwood to play Heritage. Though the level should drop a bit, this will be our last prep match for Fresno and the kickoff of the regular season. We won’t take Heritage lightly. I’m impressed with the team as it continues to jump every hurdle I put in front of it, but I remind them to stay grounded, work hard in practice and take it one match at a time. If we stay healthy and focused, good things will come. The presence of family members at the matches continues to amaze me. We have the best support base in the league. Thank you so much for braving the cold weather and cheering us on. Until tomorrow. Go Dons! Coach Rick
Results – Acalanes defeated Branson 6-3
Singles
#1 Sze Ting Chen (A) defeated Chase Hoeveler (B) 6-4, 6-1
#2 Nick Owens (A) defeated Ishwar Jayaramen (B) 3-6, 6-1, 10-5
#3 Peyton Eagens (A) defeated Mason Ogborne (B) 6-3, 1-6, 10-3
Gran Carlo A Marco (B) defeated #4 Sze You Chen (A) 3-6, 6-1, 10-7
Ryder Teakle (B) defeated #5 Sammy Foster (A) 1-6, 6-3, 10-4
#6 Saaj Shah (A) defeated Brad Yen (B) 6-1, 6-0
Doubles
Cal Keenley/Tyler Yang (B) defeated #1 Bora & Kaya Hoeberechts (A) 6-2, 7-6 (6)
#2 Dylan Rocca/Blake Marshall (A) defeated Chris Mao/Jayden Patel (B) 6-3, 6-4
#3 Danny Goldwyn/Carsten Ristow (A) defeated James Parento/Ryan Kafayi (B) 6-4, 6-4
