Boys tennis smokes Einstein

The boys tennis team effortlessly clobbered their Einstein rivals today, giving up a mere 13 games to win their first match of the season 7-0.

In a short but sweet match, number one player sophomore Michael Price combined whizzing ground strokes with over-the-shoulder backhand volleys to seize the match, 6-0, 6-0.

Soft serving and inconsistency were major factors that contributed to Prices win, according to the player. "My opponent wasn't very consistent," he said. "He had a pretty weak serve so I was just able to kill his serve."

On singles court two, senior co-captain Rahul Satija's consistency and slicing techniques left his opponent scrambling to keep up and returning the ball everywhere but in the court to earn Satija a satisfying 6-0, 6-1 victory.

Next door, number three singles player, senior co-captain James Phillips repeatedly combined a topspin serve, cross-court ground stroke and clean-cut volley to systematically crush his opponent and win the match, 6-1, 6-1.

Although Phillips admits to being surprised at his opponents spinning ground stokes, the co-captain said that once he become used to the technique, he was able to swiftly gain the upper hand. "[My opponent] messed up my pace at first because he sliced everything," Phillips explained. "So I started hitting the ball to where he wasn't until I adjusted to his pace and then [winning] was easy."

In the doubles arena, number two doubles duo sophomore Kevin Chai and junior Ji-Heon Kim just missed an aced match, giving up one game to win 6-0, 6-1. A combination of Kim's power-packed forehands with Chai's consistent placement skills forced the pair's opponents to repeatedly duck and dodge the duo's smoking strokes in fear.

Chai noted that gaining points involved very little effort and cited Einstein's inconsistency and poor net game as key to the pair's victory. "Basically, if you hit the ball in, you win. They were really inconsistent," he said plainly. "[Einstein] hit a lot of softballs to the net and so we just put each one away by being aggressive at the net."

On doubles court three, sophomore Jason Liu and freshman Edward Hsien played a safe game, combining gentle ground strokes with defensive lobs, putting the pressure on their opponents who choked under the pressure, leaving the Blazer duo victorious with an aced match, 6-0, 6-0.

Coach David Ngbea was satisfied with his team's overall performance at their first meet of the season. But while Ngbea was pleased with some of the doubles teams' techniques, he noted that the other doubles teams needed improvement and added that the team as a whole needs to cut down on errors. "By and large, people played like I thought they would. Number two and three doubles did well. They kept balls in play and didn't make many mistakes. But number one doubles did the opposite," Ngbea commented, noting the six games that doubles team one gave up to win a fairly close 6-4, 6-2 match. "The whole team needs to work on no double-faulting, overswinging and hitting balls out or into the net."