The visiting Titans from Gunn High School were yet another group to fall victim to varsity tennis’ rising momentum.

MVHS (10-3, 8-1) swept all four singles matches, defeating Henry M. Gunn High School (8-7, 3-6) 6-1 on April 5 for their seventh consecutive victory.

“We had a good week last week and a good day today,” head coach Bruce Becker said. “If we keep it together like we did today, we got a good chance at taking league, but I don’t want to be premature.”

Singles
In number one singles, senior Amreet Mohanty defeated Clifton Wolak 6-1, 6-0, keeping himself in control by hitting shots that pushed Wolak back. Wolak’s weaker shots from the back allowed Mohanty to smash winners down the line and win the games.

Freshman Edward Ang won his number four singles 6-2, 6-1 versus Adam Zorin with similar ease, adding yet another win to his first season at the varsity level.

In the number two and three singles, however, junior Nathan Law and senior Edwin Chan both had difficulty winning their matches.

Law could not feel for the ball early, falling behind 0-3 against the Titans’ Jiang Jinyan. At one point, he even had trouble with his forehand, whiffing a returnable ball from Jiang.

Law turned the tide in the fourth game as he attacked Jiang’s forehand on his serves to catch back quickly in the first set. Law later exploited the numerous errors that Jiang committed in the second set to win the match 6-4, 6-1.

Chan won his match in a tougher fight against Roy Peleg 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Chan seemed to have all the momentum as he executed his forehand and serves, much to the frustration of Peleg.

However, Chan quickly fell behind 0-3 in the second set and never regained his composure for that set. Luckily, he rebounded in the third set by taking a 4-1 lead en route to a 6-2 set win.

Doubles
Freshman Saxon Day returned for the number one doubles match from an illness last week, but had trouble regaining his previous form before the illness. He and doubles partner junior Ryunosuke Goto lost to Joe Atlas and Jack Kwan 2-6, 4-6.

“[Day] has been sick but his volleys are just going up and giving freebies,” Becker said. “[Goto] played pretty [well].”

The other double matches went well for MVHS. Sophomore Jeremy Liu and senior Ryan Mui won their match against Arjun Narayen and Ameya Rao 7-5, 6-2, and sophomores Jonathan Tsao and Sudev Chaluvadi overcame their opponents Kevin Macario and Thomas George 7-6, 6-3.

“Liu played really [well], and he was quick, improving a lot,” Becker said. “Their doubles are usually very good, so we did better on the doubles this time.”

Looking forward, the Matadors will face a tough match-up against co-league leader Los Altos High School before facing rival Lynbrook High School at home on April 14.

MVHS continued the week with matches against Leland High School on April 6 and Los Altos High School on April 7. Check back April 12 for score updates.