After one of the most successful seasons in years, the boys’ tennis season finally came to an end on May 17 in Folsom at the hands of California High in the semifinals of the NorCal Championship. They lost 5-2. 

In the previous round, the Falcons beat Orland 5-2. They qualified for the NorCal Championship after making it to the finals of CCS. 

With a bye in the first round of CCS, they won 6-1 against Aragon in the second round of CCS on May 3, won 4-3 against Bellarmine in quarterfinals on May 6, and beat a favored Menlo team 4-3 on May 8, but narrowly lost 4-3 to Homestead on May 10 in the finals. 

Ultimately, the team found that this season was one of the strongest ones they have had in comparison to previous years with a 10-2 record in the De Anza League under their belt, making finals in CCS and semi-finals at NorCal Championships. 

“We were very consistent throughout the whole preseason and all the way till the finals of CCS,” junior Sarang Narasimhan said. “Overall, this season had its highs and lows, but in the end, it was one of the best.” 

Sophomore No. 1 singles Somei Ogata and senior No. 3 singles Johan Amirineni attribute the team’s success to strong team chemistry. 

“A lot of things went well this year. We had a really solid team with a great depth of player skill,” Ogata said. “Our team chemistry was very good all the way from the seniors to the freshmen and we all got along very well, so we had some really good wins.” 

The team seeks to achieve even stronger results next year. Although, they will be losing five seniors to graduation — notably senior Shrey Jain Stratakos and Amirineni, a critical blow to the strength of the teams — they have plenty of younger star athletes to continue their successes, including key player Ogata. 

“This year, we improved after each game,” Narasimhan said. “Next year, we will need to compensate for the loss of the graduating seniors, but the same will apply to other teams so hopefully we can have a much more successful season next year.”