Gilroy
– The stars aligned perfectly for three of Gilroy’s singles
players Tuesday. Ben Wilson had the opportunity to celebrate his
18th birthday in style. Matt Chan used his coach’s racket
effectively. And Takashi Miwa got his first win.
Gilroy – The stars aligned perfectly for three of Gilroy’s singles players Tuesday.
Ben Wilson had the opportunity to celebrate his 18th birthday in style. Matt Chan used his coach’s racket effectively. And Takashi Miwa got his first win.
The effort of the singles players spurred the Mustangs to a 5-2 Tri-County Athletic League win over Alvarez that reversed a 5-2 decision that went the other way when the teams met the first time.
Chan and Miwa didn’t even play during that first match. Chan rested an injured ankle and Miwa, a foreign exchange student, was still being cleared to play.
The wind whipped the courts at Gilroy. Both Wilson and Chan expressed their disdain for the blustery conditions. And yet they overcame the adversity more effectively than their Eagle opponents.
“They made the adjustments,” Langer said. “Everyone had to deal with it. Everyone played well. Everyone we used won a set and was in a position to win.”
Wilson continued his strong play at No. 1 singles. The senior jumped on freshman Peter Ngoi early and cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win.
“I felt I played pretty well but the wind was awful,” said Wilson, now 7-3 for the season. “This is a good start. We hope to continue winning this week.”
Chan broke a string on his racket and was unable to use it. Coach John Langer lent Chan his racket, and the sophomore responded with a 6-2, 6-2 win over P.J. Vargas.
“I could play a little better but I’m happy with the result,” Chan said. “It wasn’t very much fun playing in the wind. When we have all our singles players we can compete with most of the league teams.”
Alvarez’s Jared Contreras outlasted Michael Tajan 4-6, 6-4, 10-7 at No. 3 singles. But Miwa staged an impressive second-set comeback to beat Allen Ng 6-4, 7-5. Trailing 5-4 and down love-30, Miwa broke Ng’s serve, then held his own and broke Ng again.
The Eagles (3-7) won at No. 1 doubles when Ricardo Contreras and Michael Castro edged Sai Erdenchemeg and Sang Min Park 6-1, 3-6, 10-8.
But the Mustangs (2-8) swept the other doubles by identical 6-4, 6-2 scores. At No. 2, Esteban Delgadillo and Daniel Chong defeated Mitch Souza and John Nguyen. At No. 3, Zach Singh and Vinh Vong defeated Brandon Moriyama and Michael Jung.
“All the guys are improving immensely,” Wilson said. “We haven’t had rainouts so we have not had a lot of days to practice. This is a week we’d like to go 3-0 to build up wins and get the guys confidence up.”
Gilroy and San Benito will try for the second time to complete a rainout from several weeks ago when they meet at 3:30pm today at Gilroy. The Mustangs then are at Watsonville on Thursday.
