Panthers doubled up by Arcadia

ARCADIA — Having played the Apaches already this season, the Pasadena Poly boys’ tennis team entered Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division II second-round match armed with some firsthand experience against unbeaten Arcadia High.

In the end it served less as a scouting report and more as a tool of prediction, as the Panthers fell by an identical 12-6 score the second time around on the third-seeded Apaches’ home courts.

“We were missing a couple players today, but the kids who played very well,” said Poly Coach Howie Farer, who was without two of his starting doubles players due to family commitments. “They put out 100% and you can’t ask for much more than that. Arcadia’s just a good team.”

Will Clary and Andrew Ruys de Perez filled in in the No. 3 doubles slot and won two out of three sets, 6-1, 6-7, 6-4, while Matt Johnson and Andrew Trojan were able to take two sets, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, in their first time teaming together because their normal partners were absent.

The No. 1 doubles team of Matt Rossi and Sahil Shah also won a set, 7-6 (7-5), and No. 2 singles Henry La Soya notched a 6-0 win in the first round, but Arcadia took four out of six sets in all three rounds on its steady march to victory.

“We could have won, I think, a couple more sets,” Farer said. “We were ahead in a couple and couldn’t quite pull it out.”

The Panthers wrap up the season at 12-7 after finishing second in the Prep League and advancing to the second round with a 16-2 win over Palm Springs on Wednesday.

“We had a very good season,” Farer said. “That’s the best record we’ve had in the last couple of years. I’m pleased.”