The members of Central Valley High School's varsity boys tennis team climbed into two vans and traveled 90 minutes north to face Mira Loma in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Division-II Playoffs last week.
The third-seeded Hawks of the Western Athletic Conference lost 9-0 to the Capital Athletic League runner-up Matadors on May 5 in Sacramento.
"I would have liked to have gone further," Central Valley head coach Mike Rodriguez said. "But we accomplished a lot. We had a great season."
The Hawks enjoyed their most successful season to date this year.
Central Valley qualified for the playoffs for the first time in program history, posted a 9-6 overall record and finished third in the WAC standings (9-4).
"The road we took to get to this point is the best thing to remember," said Rodriguez, whose team tied for last place with Pacheco at 2-10 in conference play in 2013. "If you put in a lot of hard work, you get results. I'm really proud of them."
Central Valley dropped six singles and three doubles matches to Mira Loma.
Alexis Villa lost 6-0, 6-0 to Kendall Johnson in No. 1 singles play.
Alexis Zigala lost 6-1, 6-0 to Edward Ni in No. 2 singles play.
Edgar Castillo lost 6-0, 6-1 to Manu Prakasam in No. 3 singles play.
Eric Morales lost 6-0, 6-1 to Anish Balaji in No. 4 singles play.
Brandyn Weis lost 6-0, 6-1 to Vishal Mittal in No. 5 singles play.
Gerardo Rivas lost 6-0, 6-2 to Owen Frazier in No. 6 singles play.
Ruben Morales and Nimrit Chahal lost 7-5, 6-3 to Charlie McMurry and Rohi Rathor in No. 1 doubles play.
Jorge Bustos and Oscar Gomez lost 1-6, 6-0, 6-4 to Sameer Punia and Hoon Min in No. 2 doubles play.
Osvaldo Sanchez and Julio Pena lost 6-3, 6-2 to Anchit Sood and Russi Debansai in No. 3 doubles play.
"The kids went into the match relaxed and confident," Rodriguez said. "I didn't see any nerves. I was surprised. I thought we actually played really well. They were just better. You could tell they were more experienced. They're a pretty talented team. Their consistency is what helped them quite a bit. I knew it was going to be tough."
Central Valley High School had three teams earn postseason berths for the first time this year, including boys tennis (spring), boys basketball (winter) and football (fall).
"You see all the other sports teams make playoffs," Rodriguez said. "You want to be a part of that. Most of our guys are coming back. They got a little taste of what it takes. Hopefully, it drives them to work even harder."
