Playing their best tennis of the season, all six Live Oak High
varsity boys tennis players won their early round matches to
advance at the Tri-County Athletic League champion-ships on
Thursday.
Playing their best tennis of the season, all six Live Oak High varsity boys tennis players won their early round matches to advance at the Tri-County Athletic League champion-ships on Thursday.
The TCAL finals will continue on Friday at Gilroy High beginning at 2 p.m. and exactly half of the remaining players will be Acorns.
According to Acorn boys tennis coach Ignacio Herrera, the results were more than he and his improving team could have hoped for.
“The guys were unbelievable — every one of them,” Herrera said. “Everyone won. It is so overwhelming. I have never heard of any other team doing this.”
For the TCAL championships, each league team sends two singles players and two doubles teams, for a total of six players.
Out of 48 players, there are now 12 remaining in the league finals and six of them are from Live Oak.
Live Oak’s No. 1 singles player Chris Laskodi, seeded fourth in the league finals, downed Hollister-San Benito’s Cameron Barker 6-0, 6-0 in the first round.
In the second round, Laskodi dispatched No. 2 seed Jeff Hill of Salinas 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The Acorns’ No. 2 singles player Nick Matsumoto beat the No. 3 seed Chris Rivera of Gilroy 7-5, 6-2 in the first round.
In Round 2, Matsumoto beat Palma’s Russell O’Shea 6-3, 6-2.
Live Oak’s No. 1 doubles team of Ryan Alexander and Erick Macias drew a first-round bye.
Then, in the second round, they defeated the Gilroy team of Alex Santa Maria and Ben Wilson 6-1, 6-3.
The Acorns’ No. 2 doubles team — Eric Matsumoto and Robbie Ferrando — beat Hollister’s Spencer Gonzales and Andy Pringles 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the first round.
In the second round, the pair ousted Ryan McBrenat and Chris Adams of Gilroy 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
After battling several key injuries early in the season, Live Oak began improving its play midway through the season and began showing hints of the promise that Herrera had predicted before the season that the Acorns possessed.
Paced by Laskodi, the Matsumoto brothers, and a host of others, the deep squad finished the regular season at a respectable 9-6 in TCAL play.
In its final league matches earlier this week, the Acorns bowed to Palma by a 6-1 score on Monday, with the doubles team of Kayvon Kheymendouz and Jacob Haim picking up the teams’ lone victory, then downing Gilroy 6-1 on Wednesday.
