Boys Tennis: Matadors defeat Sacred Heart High School 5-2

[table class=”table_white”]Team (Monta Vista), Team (Sacred Heart), Score
Matt Cheung, Cameron Kirkpatrick, 1-6 0-6 SC
Amit Batta, Justin Foster, 5-4 7-6 MV
Saxon Day, Will Ratchey, 6-1 6-0 MV
Aditya Prabhakar, Jack Rica, 6-0 6-0 MV
Johnathan Yao and Vinay Reddy, Will Waleclea and Scott Evans, 4-6 1-6 SC
Rizhwanulla Mohammad and Neil Palleti, Michael Boggs and Scott Magnuson, 6-7 6-2 3-1 (default) MV
Daniel Lim and Alex Wu, John Desler and Beto Macedo, 6-2 6-3 MV [/table]

It’s an hour into the match, and already one may see a severe disparity in performance across the match. On the first court, Sacred Heart High School dominates with a 6-1 win in the first set and a 2-0 lead in the second set, while on the third and fourth courts senior Saxon Day and freshman Aditya Prabhakar lead their games with similar advantages, 6-1 and 6-2 respectively in their first sets.

The doubles court presents a similar, albeit slightly more negative circumstance: senior Daniel Lim and senior Alex Wu lead with a 6-2 win in the first set, while Senior Jonathan Yao and junior Vinay Reddy are broken on serve in the first set and lose 4-6.

“Our doubles team isn’t doing so well,” varsity coach Bruce Becker said. “Our main problem appears to be service return: we are sometimes failing to break the other team on service.”

These warnings came trickling in earlier, with Becker warning Reddy and Yao of the importance of service return with the first set at 3-4. Becker reminded his players to return the ball quickly in order to put pressure on the opponent from the net, and then seize that momentum and the point soon after. His advice did not lead to victory for the Matadors in that particular matchup, and the Matadors lost 4-6, 1-6.

On another court MVHS junior Rizhwanulla Mohammad and freshman Neil Palleti fought a close match against their SHS opponents. After losing the first set in a close 6-7 tiebreaker, Mohammad and Palleti bounced back with strong service and return game to clutch the second set 6-2, eventually winning the third set 3-1 on a default.

As the games continued, it became increasingly apparent that MVHS would take the match, for the Matadors broke the Sacred Heart service game time and time again. While senior Amit Batta found himself down early on in the second set, he managed to apply the principles of the offensive service game and the aggressive return game to clinch victory in the second set tiebreaker. Both Day and Prabhakar broke their opponent’s service every single game in the second set, taking home quick 6-0 victories.

By the end of the match, MVHS had won 5-2 over Sacred Heart. Senior Matt Cheung lost to his Sacred Heart opponents and Yao and Reddy fell as well, but every other home team won. According to junior Vinay Reddy, MVHS’s tennis team’s prospects look great for CCS, with the path almost certain if MVHS wins its next game against Gunn on April 22.

This is the last home game of the season. The next game will be against Gunn high school on April 22.