By Yolanda Feng

The varsity boys’ tennis team failed to conquer the St. Ignatius Wildcats in their third non-league match of the season, losing 5–2 on March 10.

In the singles matches, senior co-captain Maxwell Ho dominated his opponent with a 6–1, 6–3 victory. However, that was the only singles win of the day. Sophomore Justin Pau was unable to grasp a win, losing 6–2, 6–2. Junior player Jacob Goldstein was defeated by a Wildcat 6–2, 6–1. Freshman Kyle Awad lost to his opponent 6–1, 6–0, and senior player Mitchell Wong with a 6–0, 6–0 loss.

In the doubles matches, senior Ethan Trinh and sophomore Andrew Trinh were able to clinch a 7–6, 6–4 win over their opponent. Support and encouragement from his partner helped him a lot in the game, according to Andrew Trinh. “He got me right back in the game and we just took off from there,” he said.

However, the Cardinals could not get another doubles win. Senior co-captain James Sutton and sophomore Oak Gast fell to the Wildcats 6–3, 6–2 in their match.

The team takes their losses as a learning experience, according to Pau. Some players could work on their consistency and approaching the balls more, according to Ho. Ho hopes to work on the placement of his first serve to use it as a weapon and a deciding factor in his matches. Sutton believes he and his partner should work on their groundstrokes.

Many of the St. Ignatius Wildcats play year-round and are nationally ranked, giving the Cardinals a disadvantage in this match. The coaches allow the players to experience battling competitive non-league teams in order to get more practice and improve, according to co-coach John Mohr. “Our boys need to be more aggressive,” Mohr said. “The footwork needs to be improved a little bit, and strokes always need to be improved. We’re doing much better than where we were last year so we’re very pleased.” Facing tough non-league opponents like the Wildcats helped strengthen the Cards’ confidence for future games, according to Andrew Trinh.

Although it is challenging for the Cards to compete against non-league teams, they dominate the Academic Athletic Association league. The Cards are currently in first place with a regular season record of 4–0. They won against the Balboa Buccaneers 6–1, the Washington Eagles 7–0, the Wallenberg Bulldogs 5–2, and the Lincoln Mustangs 7–0.

Because there were no seniors that graduated last year, the Cards were an extra large team this year. The dynamic change of the team was for the better because it led to healthy competition and camaraderie, according to Ho. Once again, the team is aiming for sectionals.

On Monday, the Cardinals took over the court and dominated over the International Jaguars 7–0. On Wednesday, the Cards fell to the Palo Alto Vikings 5–2. Additionally, they conquered the Lincoln Mustangs 7–0 yesterday. Their next game will be against the Riordan Crusaders 3:30 p.m. at home on March 20.