Ceres High's varsity boys tennis team made a statement during the opening week of Western Athletic Conference play.
The experienced-laden Bulldogs collected victories against Patterson and Los Banos.
"We beat two pretty good teams," said Ceres High senior/three-time WAC singles champion Nolan McCaig. "I expected this. I have confidence in all of my teammates. I've seen all of them improve in practice. We've grown as a team."
Fueled by the top of its ladder, the Bulldogs beat the host Tigers of Patterson 6-3 on Thursday.
"We were really motivated," McCaig said. "We lost twice to them last year."
The Bulldogs swept all six singles matches in beating the Tigers last week.
Donnavin Koeurn's 6-1, 7-5 (8-6) win over Estefan Cadena in No. 5 singles play gave the Bulldogs an insurmountable 5-0 lead.
McCaig defeated Julian Ramirez 6-1, 6-1 in No. 1 singles play.
Chris Padilla defeated Santi Zuleta 6-2, 6-2 in No. 2 singles play.
Christian Pimentel defeated Lolyn Tejeda 6-1, 6-3 in No. 3 singles play.
Jorge Campos defeated Chris Tapia 6-0, 6-3 in No. 4 singles play.
Darren Polanes defeated Roberto Camberos 6-1, 7-5 in No. 6 singles play.
Ceres High cruised to a 6-3 win over visiting Los Banos on Feb. 28.
The Bulldogs swept all six singles matches.
McCaig defeated Quentin Barcellos 6-0, 6-0 in No. 1 singles play.
Padilla defeated Jared Haug 6-4, 6-1 in No. 2 singles play.
Pimentel defeated Jack Gerstenberg 6-1, 6-0 in No. 3 singles play.
Campos defeated Andy Liu 6-3, 6-4 in No. 4 singles play.
Koeurn defeated Michael Butler 6-2, 6-0 in No. 5 singles play.
Polanes defeated Will Marches 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in No. 6 singles play.
Hawks beaten twice
Central Valley's varsity boys tennis team opened the Western Athletic Conference season with back-to-back losses this past week.
"I was expecting close matches," Hawks head coach Mike Rodriguez said. "We just came up a little short. We're a little behind because we've only had four practices. It was raining quite a bit and most of our kids were playing other sports. We're not going to have a full team for at least another two to three matches. We'll get better."
Central Valley lost 6-3 to visiting Los Banos on Thursday in Ceres.
"For the most part, I'm happy," Rodriguez said. "It was competitive. I thought we could have been a little more aggressive. The kids played hard."
Roman Ortiz defeated Michael Butler 6-4, 6-4 in No. 5 singles play.
Ralph Afortunado and Gurshan Chahal defeated Max Bell and Kyle Jackson 6-2, 6-2 in No. 2 doubles play.
Samson Gonzalez and Javier Palafox defeated Parker Smith and Patrick Martinez 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 in No. 3 doubles play.
Ruben Morales lost 6-4, 6-0 to Quentin Barcellos in No. 1 singles play.
Henry Garcia lost 6-4, 7-5 to Jared Haug in No. 2 singles play.
Juan Zaragoza lost 4-6, 8-6, 10-6 to Jack Gerstenberg in No. 3 singles play.
Rogelio Perez lost 6-2, 6-2 to Andy Liu in No. 4 singles play.
Max Sanchez lost 7-5, 6-3 to Will Marchese in No. 6 singles play.
Ivan Jimenez and Adrian Gomez lost 6-3, 6-2 to Giovanni Mevi and Ethan Machadao in No. 1 doubles play.
Host Livingston edged Central Valley 5-4 on Feb. 28.
"It was a close match all the way through," Rodriguez said. "We just didn't put them away when we had the opportunity. We just needed to make more plays at the net, especially in doubles."
The Hawks won four of six singles and dropped all three doubles matches versus the Wolves.
Morales beat Isaias Cortes 6-3, 6-3 in No. 1 singles play.
Henry Garcia beat Diego Jimenez 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in No. 2 singles play.
Ortiz beat Alex Aguilar 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 in No. 5 singles play.
Sanchez beat Adrian Maldonado 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in No. 6 singles play.
Zaragoza lost 7-6 (7-0), 5-7, 6-2 to Kevin Castro in No. 3 singles play.
Perez lost 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 to Sam Redmon in No. 4 singles play.
Jimenez and Gomez lost 6-1, 6-1 to Michael Leon and Harjot Sidhu in No. 1 doubles play.
Afortunado and Chahal lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Edgar Salas and Balpreet Chahal in No. 2 doubles play.
Gonzalez and Alonzo Bustos lost 2-6, 6-0, 8-6 to San Kang and Luis Muniz Garcia in No. 3 doubles play.
