Re-Cap of 4/21/08 Match: Banning vs. San Pedro

Congratulations to the Banning High School Boys Tennis team for completing the season sweep over San Pedro, with a 5-2 victory during Monday’s match.  With the win, the Pilots clinched 2^nd place in League & posted the most wins during league play in perhaps the last 15-20 years with a final 8-2 record.  Although there was a slight disappointment in the fact that the team entered the day with an outside chance to still win the Marine League title, the team remains very proud of their historic achievement.

In singles, four-year player Oliver Arreaga dominated his match & avenged one of his teammates with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing.  #2 singles, Andres Suarez left no room for doubt this time around, handling his opponent in straight sets, while Jacob Loy & Will Guzman played in two of the tightest & most exciting grudge-matches of the day.

In Doubles, the team’s strength once again shined, as the Pilots swept the doubles matches, led by Jon Melgar & John Ngo who faced a pesky Pirate combo, yet still prevailed.  Rozairo Miralles & Ricardo Zaragoza came just one game shy of posting the “dozen donuts” while shutting down their opponents 6-1, 6-0.  Finally, Ignacio Torres & Gabriel Hernandez easily controlled their match in straight sets also.

In exhibition play, Diego Mayorga & Jesus Valladolid continued to give the team hope for next year’s chances with an 8-3 victory, while Richard Cortez & Adrian Taboada played extremely well, stealing 2 games vs. Varsity-level competition.

This now marks the 2^nd year in a row that Banning sweeps San Pedro, after 10-15 years without a win vs. the Pirates.  This is also now the 2^nd time in 3 years that Banning finishes in the 2^nd spot in league & now prepares to make its 3^rd trip in a row to the playoffs.  The team now awaits the results of Tuesday’s seeding meeting to find out all pertinent playoff news.  Awesome job Pilots on an incredible regular season! J