In its first conference game of the season, the men’s tennis team (1-4 overall, 1-0 in the South Coast Conference) gave a very good performance and earned a much needed first win of the season against College of the Desert on Thursday.

The Warriors came into this match expecting it to be tough but the match turned out to be easier than they thought and gained the advantage right off the bat.

The El Camino men’s tennis team won by an overall score of 6 to 3.

“Our 3 through 6 (singles) and our number 2 and 3 doubles all got wins so it was a really good performance. We’re glad to have gotten in the win column,” assistant coach Darren Dunn said.

Over the course of the match the home team did not get flustered and kept the pressure over the visitors.

“Our guys were more confident with hitting certain shots and believing that it was gonna go in,” Dunn said. “They also stayed composed and (did) not let the other team get to them.”

It was part of the game plan heading in to the match that the team should play to the best of the players’ ability.

“We let them (the team) know yesterday that this was not going to be an easy match for them,” Dunn said. “We talked about what was going to happen in the match. We’re really happy with how they played today.”

The players were excited to get that first win in the records.

“It feels great,” Takahashi said. “I kind of expected them to be a good school but they were less than what we expected.”

The men’s team hopes to keep its momentum going and get another win as they face Victor Valley College on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.

“It was nice to get our first win in the conference,” head coach Steve Van Kanegan said. “Our guys played very energetically, were pumped up, had a great attitude and it showed in the win.”