It’s a building year for local squads
Live Oak’s talent pool was cut in half by Sobrato High School.
Sobrato’s talent pool is so limited that the league had to give the
school the OK to play girls on the boys’ varsity tennis team this
year so that the Bulldogs would have enough athletes to
compete.
Gilroy High has a number of players that never picked up a
racquet until this year, and San Benito High isn’t much better
off.
As the tennis seasons reaches its midway point in the Tri County
Athletic League, it’s clear that Salinas and Palma are head and
shoulders above the other teams in the league and that none of the
local teams will win a league title
– although all are having fun competing on the court.
It’s a building year for local squads
Live Oak’s talent pool was cut in half by Sobrato High School. Sobrato’s talent pool is so limited that the league had to give the school the OK to play girls on the boys’ varsity tennis team this year so that the Bulldogs would have enough athletes to compete.
Gilroy High has a number of players that never picked up a racquet until this year, and San Benito High isn’t much better off.
As the tennis seasons reaches its midway point in the Tri County Athletic League, it’s clear that Salinas and Palma are head and shoulders above the other teams in the league and that none of the local teams will win a league title – although all are having fun competing on the court.
Of the local schools the Balers have shown the most promise and, as of Wednesday, were hovering at the .500 mark on the standings sheet.
“We’re a young team but we’re doing really well for a young team,” said San Benito High coach Leanna Morgan. “We only have two seniors and the rest are freshman and sophomores.”
One of those underclassmen is Baler sophomore Trevor Barker, who has been the team’s No. 1 player the last two years.
“He possesses all the skills that he needs to compete with the top players in the league,” Morgan said. “His game is good all-around.”
This year the Balers have relied on freshman Daniel Coffey in the No. 2 slot. Morgan is most impressed with his competitive spirit on the court as well as his tenacity.
“He does not give up even when he’s down,” she said.
In the No. 3 spot is Barker’s older brother Cameron, who is one of the two seniors on the team.
“He’s very steady and level headed,” said Morgan. “He’s the calming force on the team.”
In addition to the elder Barker’s solid play on the field, he is also strong academically, and an Eagle Scout.
“I think that says a lot about the quality of players that we have on this team,” Morgan said. “He’s not only dedicated to athletics and academics but he’s also interested in the community too.”
Rounding out the top four singles spots on the Balers’ roster is senior Marcus Muro. A year ago, Muro played doubles on the Balers squad, but he’s adapted well, according to his coach.
The Balers top doubles team is made up of two freshman football players that decided to give tennis a try, Mark Tobias and Michael Brigantino.
“They are very spirited and they bring out that aggressive style of play that they learned on the football field to the tennis court,” Morgan said. “They always give their opponents a good run for their money.”
The Balers No. 2 doubles team is made up of brothers Ryan and Dillon Grow. Only they don’t have any sibling rivalries on the court.
“They are very supportive of one another,” Morgan said. “They communicate well and they uplift each other’s games.”
The Grow’s also can now claim that they are the only players – doubles or singles – to have beaten a Salinas team all season long in TCAL play.
“That was a huge highlight for this season so far,” Morgan said.
Last year, the Balers posted a 2-5 record in league and were 4-8 overall. This year, the Balers have already bested both marks.
“We’re trying to develop our younger guys and to introduce them to tennis and sports in general. And to let them know that they can play tennis for a lifetime, years after high school,” Morgan said.
Although they’ve missed a few matches due to rain, the Mustangs of Gilroy High have yet to taste a victory in their 2006 league campaign. This season the wins are expected to be few and far between as only four players on the Mustangs’ 16-man roster have played the sport before.
“We hope to be decent in the next year or two,” said Gilroy’s first-year-coach Robert Lawrence, who recently graduated from Chico State University and took his first teaching job at Gilroy High. “But we don’t have many veteran players. Most of them haven’t played much.”
The one player with the most experience in Gilroy’s lineup is returning junior Ben Wilson, who has a very effective service game.
“He’s also got a good attitude,” said Lawrence. “He gets excited about the matches and he always looks forward to playing.
Another player with plenty of potential on the Gilroy roster is No. 2 singles player A.J. Habing.
Gilroy’s senior doubles team of Julian Mireles and Anthony Dragotto also has the skills and chemistry on the court to go undefeated this year. Unfortunately, after that, the level of experience drops off considerably for Gilroy High’s team.
Up the road in Morgan Hill the Acorns rely heavily on the strong, left-handed game of No. 1 junior singles player Eric Matsumoto, whose been playing tennis since he was 9.
“He’s very quick and has a lot of weapons – a good serve and a drop serve,” said his mother Miki Matsumoto, who also is the team’s assistant coach.
In the No. 2 singles spot is freshman Jimmy Shedden, who has very polished groundstrokes for being such a young player, according to Matsumoto.
Junior Kevin Parsons is the fastest player on the court for the Acorns. He plays in the No. 3 singles spot.
“He’s a soccer player too and he gets everything that comes his way,” said Matsumoto. “He’s got tremendous stamina too and outlasts everyone on the court.”
In the No. 4 singles spot, the Acorns look to three-year returning senior Danny Smith to get the job done on the court. Although he’s played at Live Oak for three years, this is his first season playing singles.
“He’s got a lot of skills and a good serve,” said Matsumoto. “Because of his doubles experience, he plays the net well and has a nice net shot.”
The only concrete team the Acorns rely on every match in doubles play is the team of Jake Plasker and Scott Alexander. The two work well together since Alexander, a junior, is strong at the net and Plasker, a returning senior, has a great deal of experience in league play. The two remaining doubles teams change each week based on how each team performs at practice.
“This is definitely a rebuilding year for us,” said Matsumoto. “We split our skills with Sobrato and lost a lot of kids to them. Because of Sobrato, we’re really missing two years of kids. That’s why we don’t have any sophomores. Our goal this year is to work as a team and help each other out, and to be as consistent as we can.”
Last year Randy Barbaglia coached the Gilroy High girls’ tennis team. This year the retired real estate broker is coaching the Sobrato Bulldogs boys’ squad.
“I really like it. I like both schools and teaching,” he said. “The problem here is that we only go up to the eleventh grade so our team is real young. But that will change next year. Right now, we’re competitive, but we’re really green. Some of these kids never picked up their first racquet until a few weeks ago.”
The Bulldogs first loss this year was to first-place Salinas. It was that loss that really put things into perspective for Barbaglia.
“Salinas is like a professional team,” said the first-year Sobrato coach. “The kids there could all get DI scholarships.”
While the Cowboys play like “professionals” Barbaglia was happy just to be able to assemble a team.
“We didn’t have enough players so they allowed girls to come on to the team,” said Barbaglia.
One of those girls was sophomore player Sara Morimoto, who could play both singles and doubles matches. Unfortunately, she broke her collarbone last weekend while playing club soccer. Morimoto most recently teamed up with sophomore doubles player John Knofler.
Another co-ed doubles team at Sobrato High this year has been the team of Ashley Marroquin and Justin Haim. In a 5-1 loss to Live Oak last week, that team picked up the lone match win for Sobrato.
“Ashley has a good serve and Justin is really aggressive out there,” said Barbaglia.
Although they switch around most matches, the top three singles players at Sobrato High are Andrew Le, Christopher Rice and Casey Schenkelberg.
All three of them are juniors. Le is considered by his coach to be the most consistent player on the team, Schenkelberg has a lot of potential on the court and Rice, although he is effective as a singles player, wants to play doubles and is expected to do so in future matches.
Sophomore John Yoon is one of many Bulldog players who haven’t been playing the game long, but he has a lot of potential, according to his coach.
“Right now, we want to get everyone to build their confidence on the court,” he said. “And get them wanting to play tennis each day.”
