Under summery skies Wednesday, the Dos Pueblos High School boys’ tennis team (6-4) battled Calabasas (No. 7, Division I polls, 12-1 record) at their home courts in a contest that lasted well over three hours.
Still inspired by their match against the Dons, the Chargers played with a purpose and did better than their 1-17 loss from last year, this time falling 7-11.
In singles, Patrick Corpuz took down Scott Garapedian (No. 108, B16s) 6-4 and Jake Klein (No. 139, B18s) by the same score, and played close with 4-6 against Max Swerdlick (No. 67, B18s).
In doubles, the Chargers had their share of injuries, so some pairings changed after the first round. Nonetheless, everyone played with energy and fire to the end.
Our top doubles pair, Mason Casady and Joshua Wang, continued their run in doubles and swept, 6-0, 6-4 and 6-0, in spite of Mason’s tweaked ankle (which we taped up). After Sanad Shabbar and Alex Yang won their first set, Alex had to rest his back. Sanad paired up with Dylan Zapata for the other two rounds and played tight sets (4-6, 4-6).
Likewise, Andrew Tufenkian injured his wrist after his first round; Noah Gluschankoff replaced him to play with Ankush Khemani for the remaining two rounds. We were also without a starting doubles player, Greg Steigerwald, who was prepping for college exams.
I was impressed by the team’s stellar play, crowd support and sportsmanship. Way to go, Chargers!
Our next match, third in a row, will be away at Buena on Thursday.
Box Scores
» Dos Pueblos Singles — Patrick Corpuz 2-1; Caleb Franzen 0-3; Quinn Hensley 0-3
» Calabasas Singles — Max Swerdlck 3-0; Scott Garapedian 2-1; Jake Klein 2-1
» Dos Pueblos Doubles — Mason Casady/Joshua Wang 3-0; Andrew Tufenkian/Ankush Khemani 0-1; Ankush Khemani/Noah Gluschankoff 1-1; Sanad Shabbar/Alex Yang 1-0; Sanad Shabbar/Dylan Zapata 0-2
» Calabasas Doubles — Bruce Man-Son-Hing/Sam Mittledorf 2-1; Allen Sololof/Isaac Praiser 2-0; Allen Sololof/Noam Shalom 0-1; Cameron Hoss/Noam Morris 0-3
— Liz Frech coaches boys’ tennis at Dos Pueblos High School.