By Anneliese Duong
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS)’s boys’ tennis team played against Villa Park High School (VPHS) for their second preseason match and successfully took on the Spartans in a 11-7 victory.
The weather was not the brightest. The wind was harsh and heavy—a tennis player’s worst enemy.
“I knew it was going to be a tough match with the conditions being really windy and cold, which is not my favorite,” junior Alan Ton said.
Despite the rough wind, Ton played well during all his sets, securing them with 6-4, 6-2 and 6-0 wins. However, against players with stronger skill sets, singles No. 2 senior Dylan Nguyen and singles No. 3 senior Riku Takishima were defeated.
On the doubles side, all teams fought fierce battles, with intense points coming from both FVHS and VPHS. Doubles No. 1 senior co-captain Jared Nguyen and sophomore Colin Nguyen came through with powerful volleys, serves and all-around winner shots. Their sets ended 6-1, 6-1 and 6-2. Likewise, doubles No. 2 senior co-captain Ninh Nguyen and senior Kenneth Luong eased through the day with a score of 6-0 during their first set and 6-1 during their third set. Their second set was hard fought with a close two-point margin within the tiebreaker score of 7-6. With more wind picking up and light drizzles of rain, doubles No. 3 senior Jaden Nguyen and senior Clinton Pham claimed two out of three of their sets, 6-0 and 6-3.
If there was one thing that the boys learned that day, it was the need for stability and calmness during their match in spite of the pressure to secure points for the team.
“Coach came up to me and told me ‘be patient,’” Ton said. “That’s a good thing to learn all around.”
This year, the Barons went through a rough patch, dealing with several factors like the loss of players leading up to season. Head coach Harshul Patel reflected upon this loss but factored in his faith for the team.
“They work really hard. We lost lots and lots of players. Out of 10 players, we lost seven. They graduated or transferred to a different school, it’s tough. More than half of my roster is the JV roster from last year,” Patel said. “Seeing the boys showing their character, hard work, work ethic and team effort is unbelievable. We are one family and it’s always going to be like that. That’s the tradition we have here and we’re going to continue with that.”
Looking forward, Patel and the team will continue to prepare for the season and work towards their team and individual goals.
“Once we finish our league, we want to go really deep in Division I or Open Division of CIF[-SS]. That’s always our goal,” Patel said. “We want to continue that path, and we have [had] really good success in the past.”
Their next match will take place at FVHS on Wednesday, Mar. 3 against 2021 CIF-SS Open Division champions Harvard-Westlake at 3 p.m.
