Benjamin Chan
Exchange Editor
The Boys Varsity Tennis team swept through the competition with a streak that led them to the Rio Hondo League Finals and California Interscholastic Federation playoffs.
The Rams secured six victories to date in league. The boys started this year off strong by winning the majority of matches in preseason. The singles and doubles teams performed well with only a few losses, which ranked many of the players highly in the C.I.F. playoffs.
“Our team is playing really strongly,” Senior Justin Lin said. “We’ve had a few good victories against the estimated number three team; the top teams [in the league tournament] should definitely be within reach.”
Players from the team usually make it to C.I.F. as a singles player or as a doubles team, depending on their rankings. In C.I.F., a singles player may be paired up with a doubles player whose season partner did not make the cut. Despite this setback, most new doubles teams perform well in the playoffs.
“I hope we get to the elimination round,” Junior Alex Cheung said. “You might have to play each other. It depends on who you beat because you get put into random pools.”
The team gained three new players this year including Freshman Bryan Wei, who is one of the only freshman on any varsity team. Many of the other players are underclassman including Sophomore Brent Hong, a new singles addition to the team who joined Sophomores Brian Lai, Johnny Wang and Raymond Wu. The underclassman held their own even against the upperclassman of the opposition, doing just as well as their veteran teammates.
“[Being on the team] is definitely a learning experience,” Lai said. “We try to learn from the upperclassman. Hopefully my class will be able to lead the team when we’re up there.”
The addition of a coach also aided in the team’s success. Varsity Coach Nathan Chiu helped the team train after previously being one of the Junior Varsity Coaches. He now assists Head Coach Savay Lieu.
The team worked constantly to fix any flaws in its performance. One of the main problems that plagued the Rams was the lack of a strong connection between some of the players, partly due to the difference in age and seniority.
“It’s a challenge to have team spirit, but we have been working on it to improve,” Lin said. “When we’re out there, we want to let the team work as a whole to let them know that we’re there for them.”