Claire DuMont
Staff Writer
Mira Costa’s boys tennis team had a strong second round of California Scholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs, defeating Beverly Hills 12-6 at home on Friday and moving on to the third round of CIF.
The Mustangs kept their consistency from their last game, winning the majority of their sets with ease. While the team lost some of its sets, Costa was able to come back and keep playing strong while focusing on winning. According to senior doubles player Blake Suard, the team was strong and aggressive in all of its matches.
“The team played very well against Beverly Hills,” Suard said. “Everyone played their hardest and did what was necessary to win the game.”
The Mustangs played strong in singles with wins from senior Alex Gaal, winning 6-4, and junior Tommy Kendall, winning 6-2. The team prepared for the match by practicing their aggressive play, Suard said.
“Tanner and I played hesitant the first set in the beginning, but by the second set, we were playing extremely well,” Suard said.
In doubles, the team added to their victory with wins from sophomore partners Evan Fortier and Jeremy Chung, 6-1 and 6-3 in their sets and senior partners Blake and Tanner Suard winning 6-3 and 7-6. Freshman partners Matthew Poh and Kyle Sillman won all of their sets 6-4, 6-2, and 6-2, respectively. According to Fortier, the team played well, but still needs to improve certain aspects of their game.
“We won fairly easily on Friday against our opponents,” Fortier said. “But I think we could have practiced playing the bigger points because that’s definitely what it will come down to in the next game.”
The Mustangs, now 20-2 overall will next play in the quarterfinals of CIF against Corona del Mar on Monday at home. According to Suard, the team needs to work on its consistency during their matches.
“The team needs to work on playing at a consistent level all throughout the matches,” Suard said. “If we want to defeat Corona del Mar we need to sweep doubles.”
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