La Cañada tennis keeps it close, but loses opener
La Cañada High entered the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs a bit undermanned.
“At the beginning of the season, we had plenty of guys to choose from,” said Spartans Coach Will Moravec, whose team hit the road for a first-round match Wednesday at Los Alamitos. “But late in the season, we have lost some guys to injury and one was academically ineligible.
“It also didn’t help that we had some guys who had to take AP tests in the morning before we left for the match and that kind of affects them sometimes.”
Undaunted, La Cañada made the best of it and hoped to pull off an upset. The Spartans nearly accomplished the feat, but lost to Los Alamitos in the opener, 10-8.
“I was really proud of our guys and they did a great job against a good team,” said Moravec, whose team finished second in the Rio Hondo League. “We have only two seniors with what we have left and our team is young. They just need to learn how to have that winning mentality on a big stage like this.”
It was the third straight season La Cañada has been ousted in the first round since being bumped up to Division I, losing to Santa Monica in 2016 and Northwood in 2015.
The Spartans (11-4) overcame a 4-2 deficit in the first round and went 4-2 in the second round to tie the score at 6.
“We made it close,” Morevec said. “But even if it came down to 9-9 we would have lost in games.
The Spartans got two wins in doubles from brothers Ian and Nick Lee, 6-4, 6-1, and two from the duo of Lucas Chmielewski and William Lan, 6-4, 6-3. Brothers Gabriel and Gerard Llanes took one, 6-0.
In singles, Reid Schreck won one, 6-0, as did Alex Vasilev, 7-5, and Phillip Lan, 6-0.
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