By Nicole Tieu
On May 5, boys tennis had their final match before league finals against the Edison Chargers. Before the game, the boys were told that they only needed to win this final match before being able to gain the championship title. Although it was their final match, they did not back down at all and played fiercely, annihilating the Chargers 17-1. The boys’ tennis team is now the Sunset League champions for the first time in 23 years.
“We knew our capacity. We were always going to work on a few things, but once we got it, we would improve our scorelines,” said head coach Harshul Patel. “We were always looking at a bigger picture so now near the end of the season you see scorelines like that [17-1].”
Previously defeating Edison before, the Barons exuded confidence as they knew that they were about to win the championships. The doubles teams continued to sweep the competition and star player Eric Nguyen (’16) did not lose a single game. He won all three of his sets 6-0.
“We really wanted to become the league champs for the first time in 23 years, and we didn’t want to waste this opportunity so we played our best,” said Brandon Nguyen (’15).
With a record of nine wins and one loss, Baron tennis is ranked first as co-champions with Los Alamitos and third in Orange County. The team had been working toward the championship title for four years and have come just a few sets away to winning the last two seasons. With their hard work finally paying off, the whole team is feeling great and fantastic as they prepare for what is to come next.
“This is the best team chemistry we’ve had,” expressed Patel. “They’re supporting each other and working, practicing, and improving together, so it’s just all around great.”
League finals will take place on May 7 and 8 along with CIF championships coming soon. The boys are working hard to hopefully improve their record and rankings. No. 1 singles player John Lieu plans to win his third consecutive Sunset League Individual Singles Championship this week.
Lieu said, “I’m going to try to win it [Individual Singles Championship] again this year to make a three year repeat. And at the CIF individuals, I’ll probably make sure that I will do a lot better than I did last year.”
