Varsity Boys Tennis defeated Palo Alto High School 5-2 on Thursday, April 3. The win showcased a strong team performance, with all doubles pairs clinching their matches and the majority of singles players contributing crucial wins, namely from junior Daniel Zheng and sophomore Neel Manoj. Freshman and singles player Jonathan Hom says the strong victory shows an improvement in team camaraderie.
“Overall, as a team, we did pretty good,” Hom said. “I’m seeing improvement with how everyone on the team is cheering each other on more as the season has progressed.”
Freshman and doubles player Aditya Kumar agrees, noticing the improvement in doubles chemistry. He said he and his doubles partner, senior Kaveen Goswami, “won really easily” with a score of 2-0, attributing the victory to spending more time playing with his partner over the season.
“I think overall, we’re doing good in terms of chemistry, but we have to improve our enthusiasm,” Kumar said. “We just have to keep going. In general, I feel like we just have to have fun on the courts and just win a little bit more.”
As a freshman, Hom has quickly stepped into a competitive role on the team. Playing at singles two, he plays the second-best person on each opposing team. He remains optimistic about his potential for improvement as the season continues.
“I could definitely improve a lot more because I’m playing a lot of the better people,” Hom said. “If you think about it as intimidating, it is intimidating, and you probably play worse, so I try to think of it as an opportunity to play better people and to improve.”
Hom says MVHS’s previous victory against PAHS on March 13 gave the Matadors momentum to perform well in this match. Securing a lead early on, MVHS won four games in straight sets, all three doubles and one singles set. Looking forward, Hom hopes that the last three matches of the season will help prepare the underclassmen better for the next season. As for himself, he also wants to keep growing and pushing himself further.
“I just want to get better,” Hom said. “Recently I haven’t been playing too well, but I think I can improve a lot more and do a lot better next season.”
