Tess Whittet
Staff Writer
Mira Costa’s boys tennis team continued to steamroll its competition on Saturday, defeating Santa Barbara High School.
Costa defeated the Dons, 11-7, on Saturday at Santa Barbara High School. The team received top performances from senior Tommy Kendall, sophomore Kyle Sillman and the doubles pair composed of sophomores Alex Fry and Ethan Han.
“We won by fighting and scrapping,” Kendall said. “It was a tough match. We have some great competitors on this team, and I love being with them.”
After the first two rounds, the score was tied, 6-6. However, Costa began to pull ahead with victories from Sillman and Kendall. The team’s rally in the third round helped pull out the gritty victory, coach Joe Ciasulli said.
“The match was very contentious,” Ciasulli said. “We were missing our two top singles players, senior Evan Fortier and sophomore Matthew Poh, so that made the match very close and heated.”
In singles, Kendall won two of his three matches against Santa Barbara. He lost the first one, 7-5, but won the next two, with the second match ending 6-1, and the third, 6-4, giving him the overall victory.
“I thought I had good control of my forehand, and I thought I was moving my feet really well and staying explosive,” Kendall said.
Sillman carried the team in singles, winning all three of his sets. He won his first match, 6-1, and his second match 6-3. He then shutout his final competitor, 6-0, in the final match.
“I feel like I fought hard and with leadership from Tommy Kendall, we came through with the win,” Sillman said.
In doubles, Fry and Han contributed two victories. They won the first match, 6-3, and the next one, 6-4. However, they came up just short in their third match, losing, 7-5.
“We played very well together and followed the example of conducting good sportsmanship and getting along with both members of the opposing team,” Han said.
The Mustangs, 14-2 overall and 6-1 in Bay League, played Morningside on Thursday at home; but, results were unavailable at the time of publication. Costa’s junior varsity team took the place of the varsity squad against Morningside in order to allow the younger players in the program to get a chance to play varsity tennis, Fortier said.
“We view this as a match where the junior varsity shares its appreciation of tennis with a less experienced team,” Fortier said.
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