The Santa Ynez boys tennis team honored 14 seniors and qualified for the CIF-SS playoffs with a 14-4 Channel League win over Santa Barbara Tuesday.
“We ended up playing one of our best matches of the season,” Santa Ynez coach Nate Thompson said, “as our doubles won eight of nine sets and all of our singles players won two sets each.”
With the win, the Pirates finish the regular season at 16-5 overall and 6-4 in Channel League play, good for third place. They also automatically qualify for the playoffs. The Pirates are ranked 10th in CIF-SS Division 4.
“Coach Justin Howe of Santa Barbara and the Dons’ players were gracious guests as we took a few moments to honor each senior before the match started,” Thompson said.
Santa Ynez’s No.1 doubles team of Luke Lockhart and Charlie Hoose swept 6-1,6-0,6-1, and the No.2 team of Ethan Guillemin and Jace Hurnblad also swept, 6-0,6-4,7-6.
After losing a tie-break set to the Dons’ No. 1 singles player, Max King, the Santa Ynez No. 1 singles player Noah Thompson rallied to win his next two sets.
“I’m really proud of the character and work ethic of this team and so happy for them as they earned SY’s first playoff berth since we joined the Channel League,” Thompson said.
Santa Ynez scores:
Singles
Noah Thompson 6-7,6-0,6-1
Jacob Merrill 1-6,6-0,6-1
Micah Thomas 5-7,6-0,6-1
Doubles
Luke Lockhart/Charlie Hoose 6-1,6-0,6-1
Ethan Guillemin/Jace Hurnblad 6-0,6-4,7-6
Marc Westall/Hazen Garder 6-2,4-6
subs:Ben Watkins/Brett Adams 6-4