After a tough loss in their opening match against Temple City, the varsity boys tennis team has bounced back with a dominant 18-0 win in their first Prep League match against EF Academy followed by a solid 11-7 outing versus La Salle, bringing their overall record to 2-1 and their league record to 1-0. As the Panthers enter more Prep League matches, the team hopes to stay strong under the command of first-year boys varsity tennis coaches Olivier Harménil and Manuel Davila.
In high school team tennis, teams are composed of three singles players and three doubles teams who each play their opponent’s units. Whoever wins two games first in a set wins a point for their team. Matches are scored out of 18 points. If teams tie 9-9, the match goes to a tiebreaker and is decided by the games won in each set.
Due to this scoring system, teams usually need a balance of team chemistry from their doubles players and strong talent and athleticism from their singles. This season, however, the team has mainly been relying on their singles players to carry them over the hump.
The departure of the collaborative, tightly-knit senior class from last season left a significant hole to be filled for the team’s doubles positions as last season’s dominant doubles unit composed of Hadi Ammar and Luke Haenisch graduated. This year, the team put their most talented players in the singles, leading to their doubles performances struggling in recent matchups.
“We lost a lot of great senior players last year, but I have high hopes for the freshmen due to their existing skill,” reflected sophomore doubles player Apollo Wong.
Although the boys lost some quality talent and leadership in last year’s senior class, they have acquired a new weapon, junior Dylan Truong, a transfer from Arcadia High School who has been diligently working on his backhand slice this offseason. Unfortunately, due to CIF transfer regulations, Truong cannot play until April despite being regarded by many as the Panthers’ best singles player.
“Our team is very skilled, but we could work on in-game situations and strategies,” said Truong. “We are looking to overcome our early loss this season by analyzing our matches and learning from our mistakes or areas of improvement in different situations.”
When asked about his aspirations for this season, Davila said, “We hope once we have all our players active with Dylan in the ranks, we will be able to find a better setup for doubles and make it successful without putting a lot of pressure on the singles players.”
The team, led by senior captain Daniel Zheng, is continually improving their chemistry. “Players have stepped up this season by coordinating uniforms, coordinating group chats, bringing in the freshmen into the fold, and working well with them,” said Davila.
With the season still young and many exciting league matches to come, the Panthers must find harmony to keep their win streak alive and excel this season.