Another win for the Warriors has the team thrilled and hopeful for an amazing season.

A sense of courtesy and eagerness could be felt on the courts last Thursday as the men’s tennis team served up a thrilling win against Long Beach City College for the second time in a row with the score of 7-2.

“The Men’s team came out with reckless abandon,” Asst coach Teila Robertson said.

Once again, Usama Ehsan, 18, and his teammates Sammy Macias and Andy “the spear” Stier performed with strength and agility during their singles match.

“Our coach (Steve Van Kanegan) really pushed us yesterday during practice,” Sammy Macias, 19, said. “I think that the specific drills we worked on helped out with our win.”

The first match against LBCC two weeks ago was merely just a warm-up for the men but this last match tested their mental and physical abilities.

“Long Beach arrived today with a different kind of mind set,” Ehsan said. “The biggest difference between today’s match and last week’s match was that Long Beach showed that they really didn’t want to lose. Some sets seemed like they lasted forever and that just showed us that our opponents are becoming more and more consistent with their strength and strategy.”

Coach Van Kanegan was at the womens tennis match at LBCC and could not witness the mens victory but Asst. coach Teila Robertson was present with words of wisdom and motivation.

“I’m very proud of their team spirit and pride and it really carried throughout their performance,” Robertson said. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more. They came and performed with great effort and in the end they succeeded.”

Unfortunately, both Ehsan and Macias had to play LBCC with injuries they received in past matches.

Ehsan entered the court thinking his Achilles strain was healed but as he was warming up he started to feel the “stinging sensation” that he had anticipated for.

For Macias it was his chest that he had hurt during the previous match against LBCC.

“I can still feel tension in my chest but the pain I felt today can’t compare to the agony I was in last week,” Macias said. “No thanks to my injury, I didn’t practice as much as I wanted to but all in all I felt prepared and ready to win.”

The men’s tennis team is constantly getting both stronger and smarter and the team’s leaders have helped shape the team into what it is today.

“In my opinion (Ehsan, Macias, and Stier) are sound in their basic fundamentals and always have room to improve,” Robertson said. “As for their sportsmanship, they are leaders in that category and their teammates look up to them.”