Last Tuesday, May 14, Bonita Vista High Boys Tennis team traveled to the Balboa Morley Tennis Club courts to participate in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship. Junior William Cruz and senior Eduardo Rosario were matched up against Francis Parker High School.

“William and Eddie have probably been more consistent than the rest of the team. It shows in their record,” head coach Willie Williams said.

After warm ups, Francis Parker proved to be a tough team, according to Coach Liza Tacher. They were a Division One school. Parker’s players are seeded, which means they have an official ranking in California. If they were to lose to Francis Parker, they would be done playing for the day and could go home. If they won, they would advance to play the next school for a chance to be within the “sweet 16,” or the octo-finals of the playoff bracket.

“It was a hard matchup. We didn’t think we were going to play a school this hard in the first round,” Cruz said.

The game started off “rocky” according to Rosario. The opposing team hit very quickly without a chance to return. Francis Parker maintained a strong lead for the majority of the game. Cruz and Rosario, however, still managed to score and capitalize off of their opponent’s mistakes.

“Overall it was pretty good learning experience. We should’ve started off a little bit more confident and ready to play harder,” Rosario said.

Cruz explained that Francis Parker was able to gain advantage through their positioning. This allowed them to get hits in quicker and at harder angles. Their pace was very fast and took some time before they were able to adjust.

“By the time we got used to [Francis Parker’s pace], it was too late. So we did good overall with a good shot for the win,” Cruz said.

Cruz mentioned that there was more pressure during a CIF match compared to normal matches due to the fact that the matches will naturally increase in difficulty as more games are won.

“As soon as I heard that we were going to play against Francis Parker, I knew it was going to be a tough match. They always have a strong, good team. Not only tennis, but in all the sports,” Tacher said.

Both coaches saw this season of tennis to be a very successful year with only one loss against Eastlake, especially because much of their roster consisted of players new to the sport.

“If you want to move up, you’ve got to play people that are at a level. This will be an opportunity for us to gauge where we are,” Williams said.

They ended off their match with a loss, a score of 6-2. Nonetheless, the Barons expressed that the game against Francis Parker provided an opportunity for the Barons to learn from and improve on.

“I would love for [the team] to continue playing and improving their game and having fun in the court. If you have fun, then your game improves,” Tacher said. “Nothing comes easy. You need to work to get better. But if you’re not happy doing what you do, it makes it even harder.”