With the season now over, the boys’ tennis team made school history by winning the De Anza League with an 11-1 record, SCVAL singles champions and SCVAL doubles champions — a trifecta that no boys’ tennis team in school history has accomplished together in a single season.
The team’s dominance in the De Anza League was matched with strong individual performances from No. 1 singles player junior Somei Ogata and No. 1 doubles players sophomore Akiva Goldwasser and junior Nikhil Srivatsa. With the guidance of head coach Florin Marica, these players helped cap off one of the greatest seasons the team has ever witnessed.
“We’re really proud of winning both SCVAL singles and doubles since we haven’t done that before and no one in our league has either,” Goldwasser said.
Although the team’s season came to an end on May 14 with a CCS semifinals defeat to Harker, Ogata, Goldwasser and Srivatsa all qualified to CCS thanks to their championship wins in singles and doubles at SCVAL. They showcased a dominating performance against the best players in the region.
Ogata played his first and second matches of CCS on May 20, where he won 2-0 and 2-1 respectively to advance to the semifinals. Ogata played the semifinals and finals matches on May 22. He was able to win 2-1 in semifinals, but in finals, despite winning the first set 6-0, Ogata lost the last two sets 7-5 and 10-4.
Goldwasser and Srivatsa competed in the doubles at CCS, and their performance was equally impressive. On May 21, the pair easily passed the first and second rounds, winning both matches 2-0.
The semifinals, held on May 22, proved to be much more of a challenge. After losing the first set 6-2, Goldwasser and Srivatsa were at the brink of elimination in the second set, but they recovered to win the second and third sets 7-5 and 10-3 respectively. After that dramatic comeback, they continued their momentum into the finals and won 2-0, securing their victory. Winning the CCS doubles tournament did not qualify the pair for any additional events.
The team’s CCS run spanned from May 7–14. Because they were seeded third, the Falcons received a bye into the second round where they easily beat Los Gatos 6-1. In the quarterfinals, they narrowly beat Lynbrook 4-3, but their semifinals match against Harker ended in a 5-2 defeat. With the loss, they missed out on qualifying to the CIF NorCal State Championship.
“It was unfortunate we didn’t make States, but Harker played well and next year, we can definitely make it,” Srivatsa said. “We all were expecting to make it, but it couldn’t be done, so that’s definitely a team goal for next year as we will probably win the league again.”
Despite the loss, this season was by no means weak for the team. Their performance in the De Anza League was incredibly strong, with an 11-1 record, proving the team’s impressive ability. Sophomore Sina Mohtaj-Khorssani attributes much of the team’s success to the addition of Goldwasser and the team’s strong pool of freshmen.
For Goldwasser, the team’s massive success also came from their win against Homestead on April 29, since it instilled much more confidence into the team as a whole.
“It was a really big thing for us to win against Homestead because we’ve lost against them four straight times, and we even lost to them in the CCS finals [last year]; so, beating them was a big achievement,” Goldwasser said.
Despite the success this year, the team members still look forward to next year with a drive to perform even better, and many of them are eager to build on this year’s momentum. Although the seniors Teddy Oyang and Alexander Lu are leaving, the relatively young team has much potential.
“We didn’t get as far in CCS as we did last year, but I think we still had a good team season,” Ogata said. “We had a lot of new guys, and because a lot of our players are freshmen and sophomores, we’ll definitely be a lot better next year.”
