With the odds against him, Jun Espiritu steps on the court neither the tallest, nor the strongest, but his level of play speaks volumes.
He was one of the numerous highlights for the men’s team in its consecutive victories over the Mt. San Antonio Mounties last Thursday and Tuesday.
These matches were critical in both conference standings and team morale, following the Warriors first conference loss to the first place Cerritos Falcons earlier this season.
“I don’t think we realized how good we were until we beat these guys,” Espiritu, freshman tennis player, said in reference to the matches against the Mounties.
For now, the team (6-2, 4-1) will look to continue its success of the past two matches in a conference rematch against the Long Beach City College Vikings on Tuesday.
In their first meeting, the Warriors completely dominated the Vikings in both doubles and singles en route to a 7-2 victory and expect to do the same again.
“We can definitely beat them because the match wasn’t even close last time,” Adam Von Arx, assistant coach, said.
Despite its high level of confidence, the team looks at the opposition not as an easy victory, but as another serious challenge in its quest for the conference championship.
“We are going to respect them as we do every other team,” Steve Van Kanegan, coach, said about the match against the Vikings. “We are not writing them off,”
Against the Mounties last Thursday, the team used superb doubles play in its first match since the disheartening loss, in which its doubles teams did not win a match against the Falcons.
The 7-2 victory over the Mounties started with the Warriors sweeping the doubles matches 3-0 with scores of 8-2, 8-4, and 8-4, led by the No. 1 pairing of Tipton McMahon and Espiritu, who won 8-2.
“I’ve told them from day one that doubles will be the key to our season,” Kanegan said.
After the quick start, the team finished off the opposition by winning four of the six singles matches; Espiritu, who won his match without dropping a game, 6-0, 6-0, paced the Warriors.
The victory last Thursday concluded the first half of its conference schedule and the second half of the schedule went underway on Tuesday against the Mounties.
Despite the rare instance of playing a team back-to-back in conference play, the Warriors came out determined and outplayed the Mounties in both doubles and singles, resulting in an 8-1 win.
“We played more disciplined, strategic, and overall played really well,” Kanegan said. “Our shots were a lot more intelligent.”
Winning only two of the three doubles matches, the team compensated by winning five of its next six singles matches, with Espiritu providing another solid performance, winning 6-3, 6-1.
The other positive from this match was the stellar play from No. 1 player McMahon, who avenged his only loss this season against the Mounties in the previous match with a 6-0, 6-2 victory this time around.
“He realized after playing against the strongest players in the conference that he’s going to have to pick it up a notch,” Kanegan said.
Despite being a new member to the team, McMahon has made his presence felt through his consistent and winning play.
“He’s the youngest, yet the most experienced because of the tournaments he has played in,” Kanegan said.
Being one of the best usually comes with a level of arrogance and a feeling of invincibility for young athletes.
However, McMahon breaks that stereotypical mold.
“Tipton is extremely coachable and is always willing to learn,” Kanegan said.
With an attitude driven towards learning and excelling at this game, McMahon is posed to progress to the next level.
“We are about to see a surge in the coming weeks,” Kanegan said.
With this most recent victory, the team has surpassed both last year’s three wins in conference and five wins overall and now looks to exceed those numbers in the coming weeks.
