Gilroy High’s varsity boys tennis team couldn’t quite get into
the swing of things against the Palma Chieftains Thursday after
edging out Monte Vista Christian 4-3 Tuesday.
Gilroy High’s varsity boys tennis team couldn’t quite get into the swing of things against the Palma Chieftains Thursday after edging out Monte Vista Christian 4-3 Tuesday.
The Mustangs lost all seven of their matches to the Chieftains, with No. 1 singles player Vinh Vong offering the closest challenge, but falling just short to Nick Franscioni in a tiebreaker. The final score was 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 9-11.
Despite the defeat, Gilroy coach John Langer had nothing but praise for Vong.
“He was down 2-7 (in the tiebreaker) and came back to tie it up at 8,” Langer said. “He did great. He’s pretty much a machine. I can’t say enough about how smart he is as a player. Just intuitively, he knows what shots to make. He’s kind of on a different level.”
The level did drop off quite a bit, however, in the other matches against the Chieftains.
No. 4 singles player Ryan Azad was the only Gilroy player other than Vong to take his match to a third-set tiebreaker. He won the first set 6-3 but lost the next set 2-6 before being edged in the tiebreaker 6-10.
The Mustangs had far more success two days earlier, when they were able to top MVC in the final match of the day. The No. 2 doubles pairing for Gilroy, Zach Singh and Andrew Costa, won their match through a dramatic comeback in a third-set tiebreaker. Trailing 8-3, the duo were able to score seven straight-points to take the tiebreaker 10-8.
Matt Chan, stepping in as the Mustangs’ No. 1 singles player, won his match 6-3, 6-1, while the other two doubles pairings (No. 1 Mitch Souza and Sang Min Park, and No. 3 Derek and Dylan Jensen) both won their matches in straight-sets.
“[Chan] was real strong against MVC last year. He beat them twice bad,” Langer said. “He played real solid (Tuesday). He had a good match, just consistent throughout.”
The doubles pairings also “worked out real well,” Langer added.
While the coach thinks he and his players weren’t mentally prepared for Palma, it doesn’t mean Gilroy (4-2) can’t rebound for later in the season.
“I thought we would be about 3-4 with them, but it just wasn’t happening ,” Langer said. “But it’s okay, we got another shot at them.”
Gilroy’s will resume playing matches Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at San Benito before taking a two-week break.
