Boys’ tennis endures early defeats, gears up for challenging season

Junior Ronit Pattanayak, the No. 3 singles player, bent down low, readying his racket in anticipation for his opponent’s serve. The match was well into the third set tiebreaker, and a weary Pattanayak and his nervous opponent Monta Vista junior Andy Feng shuffled their feet, muscles straining with each groundstroke. Pattanayak’s match was one of the last players still on the court; the team scores were tied 3-3, and a win by Pattanayak would mean Falcon victory.

Pattanayak ended the match with a loss at the team’s first league match-up against Monta Vista on Feb. 28. As Monta Vista was the league champion at the end of last year’s season with the Falcons coming in second, the boys’ tennis team was surprised to see such a close match against a team they’ve had historical struggles with.

Most recently, the Falcons were able to win 4-3 against Homestead on March 14 and 5-2 against Los Gatos on March 13, but fell 4-3 against Gunn on March 12 and 4-3 against Monta Vista on Feb. 28. Though the loss against Monta Vista was expected due to their strength in past league rivalries, the loss against Gunn came as a surprise, as the Falcons have not really struggled against that team in the past.

Especially with the many new sophomore and freshman additions to the team, such as No. 2 doubles players freshman Benjamin Bray and Anthony Zhang, the team has been giving the newer players more opportunities to play to see how they perform on the court.

“As a team, we mostly understand that our loss against Gunn was a good wake-up call for everyone to start training harder and getting serious,” No. 1 singles Derek Pinai said. “We have a lot of new players, and testing them out in different places in the lineup is crucial at the beginning of any season.”

After the two early defeats in the first matches of the season, Coach Florin Marica made several changes to the lineup. Sophomore No. 4 singles Anay Koorapaty was moved down to No. 1 doubles, while freshman No. 2 doubles player Zhang moved up to take the spot. The following matches against Los Gatos and Homestead resulted in victories.

“I think that the minor changers were crucial, as it is helping us determine whether a doubles team can have chemistry on a court or not,” Pinai said. “We will probably be making more adjustments throughout the season, so the lineup could stay flexible for a little bit.”

Considering the two jarring defeats as an abrupt reality check at the beginning of the season, the team is still confident that they will be able to succeed through future league matches with hard work and careful attention to their performance.

“I don’t really worry about the team doing well in the rest of the season, as the team is training harder and is being more serious about consistency with practices and execution,” Pinai said. “Though the losses to Gunn and Monta Vista could have been avoided, I still think that they were important in helping newer players understand the competitiveness of this league."