GHS boys tennis team cracks Acorns 5-2 in T-CAL match.
GILROY – The entire Gilroy High boys tennis line-up knew what was riding on Thursday’s T-CAL match-up against neighboring rival Live Oak.
The scenario was quite simple: the Mustangs lost to Salinas in their opener and the Acorns beat Salinas, so if Gilroy defeated Live Oak, there would be a three-way tie for first place.
“Not only is it a school rivalry, but they beat Salinas so we all wanted it a lot more,” said junior Mark Hsieh, who was the first to finish with a quick 6-1, 6-1 win over Casey McElroy in the No. 4 singles position. “The wind was definitely a factor compared to yesterday when it was so hot. Your serves seem harder (from one side) and seem a lot softer (from the other. Rallying, the wind takes the ball so it makes it a lot harder.”
The Mustangs (4-1 in T-CAL, 4-2 overall) were not bothered by the wind, as they breezed to a 5-2 match win over the Acorns to create a three-team logjam atop the T-CAL Standings.
“They gave us more motivation,” said senior Tomas Carrillo, whose top doubles unit with teammate Ray Rivera disposed of Live Oak’s Nick Cotta and Bill Watson in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5). “We played well together. We were pretty confident that we could handle it.”
Rivera and Carrillo’s win gave Gilroy a 3-0 lead over Live Oak with four matches remaining. The second Mustang victors was at No. 3 doubles with senior Adam Smurthweite and sophomore Scott Adams topping Acorns’ Tad Christopher and Tim Bouchette, 6-4, 6-2.
“I just wanted to finish it off after winning 6-4 I was like, ‘let’s do this,'” said Smurthweite, who played with Adams for the first time this season. “The wind had a large effect. Your serve is altered. Your lobs are harder to be accurate.”
Live Oak (4-1 in T-CAL) was not about to go out without a fight though, winning the next two bouts at No. 2 doubles with Rob Ferrando and Ryan Alexander edging Gilroy’s P.J. Jamal and Anthony Christian, 7-5, 6-4; and at NO. 3 singles with Chris Luskodi toppling Mustangs’ senior Jacob Pniewski, 6-4, 6-4.
That left two bouts to decide the outcome with the No. 1 singles match-up of Gilroy senior Robbie Marques and Live Oak freshman David Poyales as well as the No. 2 singles match-up of Mustangs’ senior Mark Heisy and Acorns’ Nick Matsamoto.
“That was my dream come true – Robbie in the third, my money’s right there,” said head coach Chris Yoder following Marques’ match clinching victory. “If he gets into a third set, he’s a closer.”
While Heisy was just starting his third set, Marques was in the thick of it with Poyales – falling 2-6 in the first set before claiming the second set, 6-3 to set the stage for a third-set thriller. Marques fell behind early 3-0, but then took the next two games and, eventually, found himself serving for the match.
“I thought we were wiping up the courts. I had no idea what was riding on it,” said Marques, who closed things out with a 7-5 third-set win over Poyales. “I just kept it down. He played a little kid’s game with drop shots and lobs, and I know how to beat that. He couldn’t handle my drop shot back to him. He kept lobbing it and I kept smashing it in his face.”
Heisy then gave Gilroy its fifth ‘W’ on the day with a 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 three-set victory over Matsamoto.
“Business as usual. It just took us a couple of weeks to get going,” said Yoder, whose squad will head to Salinas next for a crucial March 18 road match. “We’re going to improve every match here out. We’re doing some more conditioning. We’ve been having good practices. We’re looking forward to playing better matches each time we step on the court.”
