Rain shortens state tournament

The boys’ tennis team has had a strong start to the season, currently undefeated in De Anza League with a record of 3-0.

Despite losing four starting players to graduation last spring, the Falcons have maintained their strength and have started well  in league play.

They beat rivals Monta Vista 6-1 on March 2 and won against Gunn 5-2 on March 1. With the victory over Monta Vista, who senior captain and No. 1 singles Karthik Padmanabhan considers the biggest competition in the league, the Falcons have put themselves in an advantageous position for the rest of the season.

“The victory against Monta Vista gave us control of the league,” Padmanabhan said. “It is on us to win the remainder of the matches to ensure our third consecutive league championship.”

After finishing second in the California High School Tennis Classic in Fresno a year ago, the Falcons, were unable to reproduce a similar result on March 3 when the rain ended the match against Bellarmine College Prep for third place.

Despite the disappointing result, senior No. 1 doubles player Naved Krishnamurthy said that annual trip to Fresno was still a memorable one.

“[Though] it was sad to see that half of the trip was cancelled due to rain, I feel that it’s as much of a bonding trip as is it a tournament,” Krishnamurthy said.

With the forecasts of rain coming on the second day, the California High School Tennis Classic was abbreviated from a two-day tournament into a one-day format. Because the tournament was shortened, different brackets were made in order to ensure that the tournament could be completed in one day.

The team was placed in a bracket with the other top three seeds: Menlo School, Pacific Palisades and Bellarmine College Prep.

The first match was played against Menlo School, which has won seven consecutive CCS titles. The Falcons lost 6-1 with the lone victory coming in at No. 2 singles junior Kailas Shekar, who won his match 6-0, 6-2.  

“Our team has lost four players out of  ten from last year’s starting lineup,” Padmanabhan said. “As a result, we did not have the depth needed, especially with our doubles teams, to get the victory.”

After the loss to Menlo, the team faced Bellarmine for third place in the tournament. With the score tied at 2, the rain came and forced the match to be counted as a “did not finish,” ending the tournament for the Falcons.

“I have complete confidence that if it had not rained out, we would have won the match,” Padmanabhan said. “Although the score was tied, we were in a good position to win all the remaining three matches.”

Padmanabhan said that the tournament was a good reality check against competition and preparation for the CCS playoffs.

“The matches we played were significantly harder than any of the other matches we have played so far, and it threw us off,” Padmanabhan said. “Now we know what to expect, so we will come in better prepared for an intense battle.”

The Falcons were scheduled to play Palo Alto and Homestead on  March 15 and 17; the Falcon could not cover the results of these matches because of printing deadlines.