Varsity boys tennis defeats Rowland High School
Mustangs triumph over Rowland in first league match after multiple cancellations due to rain.
Striking victory | Singles one captain senior Jeffrey Chou hits a forehand approach shot in a match against Rowland. “This was our first league match so it felt good to start on a win. I was happy to win all three of my matches because it showed the hard work was paying off,” Chou said.
Varsity boys tennis defeated Rowland 15-3 in its league match Thursday, March 16 at home.
In the first round, doubles one junior Noah Salvador and sophomore captain Scott Chen focused on volleying to apply pressure to their opponents; they won the set 6-3. Doubles three junior Leo Xu and sophomore Calvin Bautista rallied to a 6-1 win, with Bautista hitting consistent volleys and Xu hitting powerful groundstrokes. The boys swept Rowland in the first round with an overall score of 6-0.
“I was nervous to start the first match since it’s our first league game. But, Leo won us some points at the beginning so that gave me confidence in the set,” Bautista said. “To improve, I want to try to be more aggressive, like going to the net more and hitting stronger volley shots.”
Coming into the second round, the boys looked to continue their success. Senior Jeffrey Chou opened the second round with a 6-3 win. Chou had many service aces to quickly win his
serve games. Salvador and Chen again cruised to a quick win with a final score of 6-1. Chen hit an overhead winner that bounced over the fence, draining the opponent’s momentum. The second round singles’ scores were 6-3, 6-2 and 6-4, and the doubles’ 6-1, 4-6 and 4-6.
“I felt really good in the second match. I was hitting my serves pretty hard and they were going in,” Chou said. “I feel like me and the other singles players are getting more confident with each match. We’ve been playing pretty well recently.”
The boys entered the third round having already secured the win with a score of 10-2. Coach Joe Fasheh put reserve sophomore Dylan Wang into the singles lineup. Wang started the
set hitting inconsistent serves and was tied 1-1. As the match progressed, Wang got into a rhythm and controlled the final five games to win 6-2. The boys swept singles 9-0 to beat Rowland 15-3
and start the season 1-0. Their next league match is Wednesday, March 22 against South Hills.
“I’m really excited about our season this year. We had a lot of guys return from last year’s team, so we have a lot of close bonds that make us play well together. It’ll be a good season for us,” Bautista said. Ω
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