By Rick Assad
On a calm and pleasant Wednesday afternoon on the Burroughs High tennis courts in a match versus Cate, two excellent programs faced off.
After nearly three hours of back-and-forth action, the Rams seized a 12-6 decision in a CIF Southern Section Division III opening-round boys’ playoff match.
Burroughs (6-7 overall and 6-6 in the Pacific League) earned three points via singles competition and added three points in doubles action.
Thomas Hardy is Burroughs’ first-year coach and saw a lot of promise from his team and something to build on for the future.
“They left it all out there. The thing that stood out to me was the high intensity of the matches. I thought the teams were pretty evenly matched,” he said. “The games/sets were close the whole way through. Tough competition like that helps every player grow.”
Lance Kronberg is the Cate coach which is 12-1 and 7-0 for first place in the Tri-Valley League, and he agrees with Hardy to the closeness of the contest.
“The match was a coin toss to me when we started. The weather was perfect, but the courts at Burroughs are also used as public courts, which get a lot more use and play much faster,” he said. “I knew they had several players with big serves and big forehands, which would cause some problems for my guys. We also had to travel, which is a disadvantage.”
Bernard Woods, at No. 1 singles for Burroughs, won two points after a 6-4 victory and a 6-3 triumph.
The No. 3 singles player for the Bears, Jaden Chapman, had a 7-6 (7-5) marathon win.
In doubles play, the Burroughs’ No. 1 team of Aditya Kiran and Paul Vu picked up two points as they won 6-3 and 6-1.
At No. 2 doubles for the Bears, Jacob Hughes and Ari Pathak took a point after a 6-2 decision.
“The players that stood out were doubles No. 1, Adi and Paul, for the way they were able to rebound off a rough start to lock back in and take the second and third round,” Hardy said.
Several other players impressed Hardy.
“My whole singles line played well, and especially Jaden for grinding out a tough tiebreaker win against their No. 1 in a set he was down 1-4,” he added. “Also, Zack [Barry] for playing excellent textbook tennis from beginning to end and putting together three strong sets and also Bernard, who came out with high intensity and set the pace for our singles line, overall taking two of three sets.”
The visitors grabbed six points in singles action and six points in doubles play.
The Rams’ No. 2 singles, freshman Bruce Yu Ming Li won 6-3, 6-1, 6-1.
Cate’s No. 3 singles, freshman Andrew Jayich had two points with 7-5 and 6-4 victories.
Cate’s No. 1 doubles, senior Nathan Newlove and senior Harry Su swept by scores of 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.
Kronberg also found much to be pleased about from his club.
“I was impressed with my two seniors, Nate and Harry, who won all three doubles sets without dropping a game,” he said. “The rest of the team are very young with a lot less experience, but handled the pressure better than expected, and played with amazing poise. I am a very happy and proud coach and looking forward to Friday at Redlands.”
In doubles play, Cate’s No. 3 freshman Kendrick Suen and sophomore Kaden Greene won 6-3 and 6-1.
The No. 2 doubles team for Cate, sophomore James He and sophomore Kenneth Wang added a point with a 6-0 win.
At No. 1 singles for the Rams, sophomore Kakeru Hirofugi added a point with a 6-1 triumph.
Playing against a quality opponent like Cate was also a plus for the Bears.
“I like the sportsmanship of the players and coaches of Cate,” Hardy said. “They were very respectful while still being competitive. I thought they set a very strong standard for athletics.”
