Coach: Chris Ghareebo (head coach)
Top Returning Players: Richard Lu (11), Nevin McCann (12), Calvin Yoo (12)
Top Newcomer: Dom Tenazas (9)
Last Season: The boys tennis team (14-3; 8-2 in the Freeway League) finished in second place in the league behind Troy. The Lancers lost to Irvine’s Beckman High School in the first round of the Division 2 CIF playoffs 12-6.
Outlook: The Lancers aim to be the last team to win a Freeway League title since they will end up in a new conference next season as part of releaguing among campuses in the CIF Southern Section.
“We have been practicing on finishing our matches this year because we go into games with a strong mindset, but then we begin to lose our focus throughout it,” Ghareebo said. “We had several chances last year to win matches, but couldn’t seem to close out on a few big [ones].”
Another area the coach plans to emphasize this season is in the area of doubles play.
“Our doubles team will have to be a shining spot for us to be successful this year,” the head coach said. “We are implementing a lot of different doubles strategies to keep other teams guessing and giving us the advantage.”
Adding on to the importance of the doubles this season, singles player McCann believes this is a key factor that will set the team apart from others.
“I agree that doubles is important,” the senior said. “nowadays most schools have better singles than doubles, so being able to take out doubles while still being able to manage on singles means we would have an advantage over most schools.”
McCann said he plans on strengthening the team’s mental focus, as he believes having a sharp mind is key to maintaining concentration during matches to earn more wins.
“There have been many games in the past where we lose a match that’s easily winnable because we mentally check out,” he said. “It’s a bad situation to be in since it is a whole snowballing effect where mistakes pile up on each other, making it hard to come back from.”
Although they don’t have a captain this season, McCann says the team will have to work together to earn back the league title and run for CIF.
“We definitely have the ability to win both Freeway League and CIF, as we almost did in my freshman year; we won [the Freeway League] and got to the semifinals of CIF before losing to Servite,” McCann said. “If everyone on the team does his part and puts in work, we could honestly beat any team we play.”
Starter player, Tenazas, was taken aback when finding out he made the varsity team.
“I was pretty surprised finding out that I was the only freshman in varsity, I thought I wouldn’t even make the team but I underestimated myself,” The freshman said. “I went to Sunny Hills because it was the closest school and all of my friends went [there].”
Ghareebo prepares the team for CIF by taking on other great schools in the league.
“The non-league matches have gone good, our coach tries to schedule games with teams that are either in our same division or better so we get a sense of our competition when CIF rolls around,” he said. “We finished 6-1 in pre-season, and all matches were against high ranked teams so knowing that we can compete with them is a big confidence boost.”
The Lancers will start their first Freeway League match at home on Tuesday, March 12, at 3 p.m. against Sonora High School.
