On Thursday, April 19, the Foothill boys’ tennis team handily defeated the Bishop Diego Cardinals at home in a one-sided match. Due to injuries and sickness, Bishop Diego had only four competitors, which allowed Foothill to have a relatively relaxed match. The Cardinals put up a fight despite their obvious disadvantage, but Foothill was able to prevail over their shorthanded opponents with a final score of 16 sets to 2 sets. The Dragons are now 4-0 in league and 5-2 overall.

The coaches had to deviate from the normal three-sets-each scoring method due to the shortage of athletes. Because Bishop Diego had only two singles players, each Foothill singles player was able to play two sets and get an automatic win for their third. Since Bishop Diego had only one doubles team, Foothill’s teams each played one set and got an automatic win for their remaining two.

Number one singles player Yuvi Narang ‘20 didn’t lose a single game, crushing both of his opponents 6-0. Ethan Wang ‘20 won both his sets as well, struggling slightly at first against Bishop Diego’s number one singles player, but beating him 6-3 in the end. Foothill’s third singles player, Kai Page ‘19, won his first match 6-0 but lost to the number one player 0-6, as he “was trying to hit it a bit too hard,” in the words of assistant coach Ryan Rollins.

“I liked Yuvi’s actual intensity in his number one match[.] He gave it his all,” Rollins said.

Doubles teams Eesh Manwani and Nikhil Maserang ‘21, as well as Tomas Carrillo ‘21 and Devin Franke ‘21, both defeated Bishop Diego’s only doubles team 6-3. Rollins was proud of Carillo and Franke because a 6-3 win “is pretty good for them.”

Unfortunately, Jaden Carlson ‘18 and Jackson Beckendorf ‘18 were unable to finish playing their doubles set due to sickness, resulting in a default which counted as a 6-0 loss for the Dragons.

According to Rollins this was “one of the easier [matches], but that’s partially because they didn’t have enough players,” and he believes that Foothill “could still use more consistency.”

The Foothill boys’ tennis team plays again on Tuesday, April 24 at Ventura College against Saint Bonaventure.