GHS boys tennis looks to repeat.
GILROY – The split of the Monterey Bay League into two has left the reigning MBL champion Gilroy High boys tennis team without a chance to defend its title. Since they’ve moved into the Tri-County Athletic League, the Mustangs will consider the inaugural league title in T-CAL as a successful defense.
“We want to repeat,” said senior Robbie Marques, Gilroy’s top singles player. “Our biggest match is this Thursday. If we take out Salinas, we’ll look good for the rest of the year.”
Gilroy begins its title defense Thursday at home against Salinas – another favorite to win T-CAL along with Palma and upstart Live Oak. The opening match will begin at 3:30 p.m.
“We have to play everyone three times this year instead of two,” said Marques, aware of the new format, “so we just need to win two of three to do it.”
The Mustangs are led this year by Marques as well as fellow returning seniors Jacob Pniewski, Mark Heisy and Tomas Carrillo.
“We’re looking for leadership from our seniors, the guys who have been there done that,” said second-year head coach Chris Yoder, who coached the girls tennis team in the fall. “The key to our success last year was we were having a lot of fun. My goal is to have a repeat of last year’s season as far as just having fun.”
There was no fun in losing top doubles players Matt Gallardo and Scott Denman to graduation as well as seniors Mike Faria and Daniel Carrillo – who both decided not to come out for the team this year.
“We may be mixing things up this year at Gilroy,” said Yoder, who must revamp the entire starting line-up, especially doubles. “We’re figuring that out. It’s going to be a big surprise.”
With Marques and Pniewski filling the top two singles slots, Heisy – a solid No. 3 man last year – and Carrillo – the Mustangs’ top doubles player this year – could take on the third and fourth singles positions or be paired up for doubles.
“(Marques) played everybody in the league so he knows what to expect,” Yoder said. “We’ll probably rotate him and Jacob at No. 1. We won’t let him take on the monsters every match.”
Since the football season ended, Marques has been hard at work preparing for his senior campaign on the hard courts.
“This year I plan on playing a lot more intense,” Marques said. “I’m a lot better prepared than last year.”
As for the rest of the line-up, Coach Yoder plans to find the right combinations including junior Ray Christian as well as sophomores Peter Adams and Anthony Christian.
