Cate Cruises past Dunn and into Spring Break

Today, your Cate School boys varsity tennis team trekked to Los Olivos for a matchup against the Dunn School. Missing from our roster, was not one, not two, but four players, including one of our captains, the recently decorated athlete of the week. Only nine players were dressed for the match, the exact amount required for a high school tennis match. This also meant we had a grand total of zero subs, so everyone started. We stepped off the Yukons to find treacherous rays of sun beating down on us, and a temperature that would have been considered hot even in the blazing depths of the river phlegethon. Yet, the calamitous machine that is boys varsity tennis was undaunted, steamrolling the Earwigs into mere ground insect.

Down three starters, our coaches discussed fervently between themselves to determine our best course of action. In the end, they decided on an experimental lineup with Andrew Jayich ‘28, James He ‘27, and Alex Danely ‘28 at singles one, two, and three respectively, and doubles pairings of Kenny Wang ‘27 with Nolan Hsing ‘29, Graham Clinger ‘26 with Ramsey Bolton ‘29, and Kendrick Suen ‘26 with Noah Bien ‘27 in that order.

In the singles department, the trio of Jayich, He, and Danely picked their opponents apart to contribute two wins each. Jayich, donning the title of singles one for the first time this season, cruised through the opposing two and three, winning 6-0 6-0 for a double bagel. Against the opposing one, he struck the ball ferociously but ultimately fell short against a crafty opponent. At the second position, James He, whom I am completely unbiased towards, obtained similar results, taking down Dunn’s two and three with relative ease. Despite playing through hip soreness he fought valiantly, hitting crazy winners and surviving drawn-out points to make it no easy task for Dunn’s star player to take him down. For us, our star today was none other than Alex Danely, who had the greatest performance I have ever seen from him. He took sets 6-0 and 6-1, and was the closest to beating the opposing one, hitting hard and returning every shot thrown at him, ultimately taking 5 games, playing the set of his life at a never before seen level from him.

The real hero of today, however, was our doubles teams. The three duos dropped only four games en route to a 54-4 sweep of the opponent. Our players adapted quickly to work with their unfamiliar partners, showing up big time to obliterate their opponents. Bolton and Hsing made their starting varsity debuts, and performed fantastically, surpassing every expectation and earning high praise from their partners. Hsing was monstrous from the backcourt, serving up a flurry of aces, including three in a row, and pummeling the opposing side from the baseline. Contrastingly, Bolton was a prominent threat at the net, putting away difficult volleys and winning numerous points with smooth hands, eliminating any chance for the Earwigs to gain momentum, and winning an impressive 18 straight games with Clinger for a perfect triple bagel. Bien showed significant improvement from last year, hitting solid shots and multiple crucial points, highlighting his future potential. Of course none of this would have been possible for Wang, Clinger, and Suen, who set the stage for their partners to perform on.

Despite playing shorthanded in unfamiliar heat, the rams prevailed massively, improving the 12-6 result from last season to 15-3. This match proved the depth of our team and its ability to play under undesirable circumstances. We went onto the courts unsure of what the outcome would be, and emerged victorious, adorned with hard-fought laurels. We’ll be going into break with a win and will return to the court guns-blazing on March 19th at Laguna Blanca. Thank you everyone for your continued support!