Kyle Skinner and Eric Johnson are the lone remaining tennis
players for the San Benito Haybalers following the first day of the
Tri-County Athletic League Finals in Salinas on Thursday. Skinner
and Johnson, who represent the Balers’ No. 1 doubles pairing and
earned the No. 1 seed in the TCAL tournament as well, received a
first-round bye to start Thursday’s play, then defeated their next
two opponents to advance to Friday’s doubles championship.
SALINAS
Kyle Skinner and Eric Johnson are the lone remaining tennis players for the San Benito Haybalers following the first day of the Tri-County Athletic League Finals in Salinas on Thursday.
Skinner and Johnson, who represent the Balers’ No. 1 doubles pairing and earned the No. 1 seed in the TCAL tournament as well, received a first-round bye to start Thursday’s play, then defeated their next two opponents to advance to Friday’s doubles championship.
Skinner and Johnson beat a pairing from Salinas in straight sets in the quarterfinals and topped a doubles team from Gilroy in the semifinals, and will square off against a duo from Palma in Friday’s final as a result.
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The championship match is slated for 1 p.m. at Everett Alvarez High School in Salinas.
The play of Skinner and Johnson was the highlight for the Balers on Thursday, as both singles players and the team’s second doubles pairing was eliminated from contention.
San Benito’s second team of Brian Becerra and Sunny Singh won their first two matches of the day and advanced to the semifinals before falling to Palma — the same team that will square off against Skinner and Johnson on Friday, in fact.
Meanwhile, in singles, the Balers’ top player in Jacob Garcia won his opening match to a singles player from Gilroy, but lost his very next match, falling to Jeremy Ortiz of Everett Alvarez 6-2, 6-4.
Since he won his first match, there was no consolation bracket for Garcia.
San Benito’s No. 2 singles player in Alex Reilly, though, did advance to the consolation bracket after he dropped his opener to Gilroy’s Victor Vong 8-3.
Reilly then advanced to the consolation bracket as a result and won a match before losing his second match of the day, ending his season.
The season will last at least one more day for Skinner and Johnson, though. By qualifying to the TCAL doubles championship, the duo represents the third San Benito team in as many years to have advanced to the finals.
