The pair of men
’s teams from the Gilroy Tennis Club competing at last weekend’s
district tournament in Sunnyvale are a little different from most
of their competitors.
The pair of men’s teams from the Gilroy Tennis Club competing at last weekend’s district tournament in Sunnyvale are a little different from most of their competitors.
For starters, the two squads — one in the 3.5 division, the other in the slightly tougher 4.0 division — are part of a public club. A great many of the teams it faces are from private groups.
“It’s kind of satisfying coming from a community club,” said Del Jamora, a doubles’ player on the 3.5 team. “That really says a lot for us. We’re a bunch of local players.”
And that’s difference No. 2.
Mike Hansen, captain of the 3.5 team, said many clubs are ultra-competitive about who gets to play, even “drafting” players from far-away areas.
With these two teams, all 38 players are from either Gilroy or Morgan Hill. According to 4.0 captain Bob Schuman, the core group of his team has been playing together for the last decade.
“It’s really an anomaly to have all local players,” Hansen said.
It can also be a hassle, though.
Gilroy isn’t exactly conducive to a successful tennis club. In a city of 46,000, the only respectable courts available to the public are the five at Las Animas Park.
So the nearly 300 members of the Gilroy Tennis Club — not to mention all the non-members — have to find a way to squeeze everyone in.
“We keep hearing there’s plans to make the facility bigger, but it’s usually just talk,” Jamora said. “For a club this size, it’s a little ridiculous to have only five courts.”
The teams have certainly made do, though.
Led by a pair of former Gilroy High standouts, brothers Kenny and Robbie Marques, the 3.5 squad finished the regular season undefeated for the first time ever.
From 19-year-old Robbie Marques to 72-year-old Larry Nardinocchi, the team rolled to a 14-0 record in the Monterey Bay League and recorded two victories in a playoff round two weeks ago to advance to districts for the first time in several years.
Out of the 214 teams competing in northern California, the group is ranked sixth.
The Marques brothers were recently upgraded by the U.S. Tennis Association to 4.0 status and have juggled back and forth between two teams. With the 3.5 group, Kenny (8-0) is the No. 1 singles’ player and Robbie (14-1) is right behind at No. 2.
As for the 4.0 team, it advanced to the districts for the sixth time in seven years … barely.
After a 13-2 regular season, the team was on the brink of elimination in the playoff finals. The team score was 2-2 and Tony Bontenpi was down 9-4 to his opponent from Seascape. One more point meant no districts.
With around 50 people crowded around the court at Las Animas, though, Bontenpi somehow won seven straight points.
“I still don’t know how to explain it,” Schuman said. “It was like seven minutes of Nirvana.”
Note: In district competition last weekend, both the Gilroy 3.5 and 4.0 teams lost all three of their matches.
