Boys’ tennis to contend for CCS title

May 1, 2014 — by Jihau Yu

After finishing its regular season with a record of 17-0 overall and 12-0 in the De Anza league, one of the most competitive leagues in the area, the boys’ tennis team is focused on winning Division 1 CCS playoffs, which will start May 9.

After finishing its regular season with a record of 17-0 overall and 12-0 in the De Anza league, one of the most competitive leagues in the area, the boys’ tennis team is focused on winning Division 1 CCS playoffs, which will start May 9.

The team has reached the semifinals for the past four years but hasn't won CCS since 2004.

To achieve this goal, the team is making a few final adjustments.

“We want to solidify our lineup and win in any situation that our opponents could throw at us,” said senior co-captain Sanjay Kaliyur, the team’s No. 1 doubles player.

The team’s No. 1 singles player, junior Neel Bedekar, also said the team’s focus has been to continue to practice well and finalize the doubles lineup. The lineup consists of four singles and three doubles matches, and whichever team captures the best of seven wins the match.

“We're trying to develop as much chemistry between our doubles partners as possible, in addition to the singles players improving their games,” Bedekar said.

After their undefeated season in the De Anza League, the team hopes to be the No. 1 seed in the tournament.

“We should be the No. 1 seed, as we were the only team to go undefeated for the entire season by a wide margin, and we're certainly a top two seed,” Bedekar said.

The hardest challenge for the team will likely occur if they match up against the defending CCS champions, Menlo School, who have won the past five CCS playoffs.

Menlo’s record is 17-3 overall,but two of those losses came in the Fresno High School Tennis classic, where their top four singles players did not play due to an interest to play individual tournaments.

The two teams have not faced each other this season, but will likely be at opposite sides of the bracket and would be expected to meet in the finals.

“[Menlo’s] team is really good as its top four singles players are all ranked in the top 100 nationally, with the top two ranked in the top 20,” Bedekar said.

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