Photo of Dien Xie courtesy of Amanda Lin

Boys Tennis:

Thanks to Maranatha tennis for this report:

The last time these two schools met was over a decade ago.

It was a day that Coach Arthur Hsieh remembered well.

Maranatha had a squad that would make a deep run in the CIF-SS playoffs, narrowly losing to the eventual champs in the semi-finals.

However, on that day, South El Monte taught the Minutemen a lesson.

Though less talented and less experienced, they out-worked and out-hustled the Minutemen, and upset them, 10-8.

Coach Hsieh relayed the story to his team to ensure history did not repeat itself today.

Even though we completely changed today’s lineup, the expectation was the same – don’t underestimate your opponent and always play to the best of your ability.

That didn’t always happen today, but it happened enough, as the Minutemen kept their foot on the proverbial pedal.

In an effort to keep his team on their toes and to be adaptable to what may be needed in any given match, Coach Hsieh replaced his singles lineup with doubles players, Nate Schumann, Reggie Park, and Russell Sze, while moving his singles player into doubles.

Even with the new lineups, the Minutemen were too strong for the rebuilding Eagles, who lost several seniors from last year’s playoff squad.

Singles Results:
Nate Schumann – 6-2, 6-2
Reggie Park – 6-1, 6-2, 6-0
Russell Sze – 6-2, 6-2, 6-1
Joseph Yang – 2-6

Doubles Results:
Cherif Sauma/Will Klop – 6-1, 6-0, 6-1
Ben Forsyth/Sam Crisman – 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2
Matt Yip/Dien Xie – 6-2, 6-4, 6-2

Up next: The Minutemen (7-4; 2-2) return to the courts on Monday, when they will host California Academy of Math and Sciences (CAMS) in an important league match.