The San Diego Mesa College Men’s Tennis team defeated Southwestern College on Feb. 24.
The Olympians went into the match with an overall record of 3-1 and a conference record of 1-0. They won four out of six matches in singles and all three matches in doubles. There were strong performances by Olympians Dane Thomson and Spencer Davidson in their single matches.
“This is the strongest team we have had in 20 years,” said Coach Mike Hootner.
Coach Hootner is confident in his players this year. He feels that the team has a lot of depth.
Thomson had the dominant performance of the afternoon against Southwestern’s Danny Ballez. In the best of three games, Thomson cruised by Ballez winning both games and not losing a single point.
“I just wanted to get a big serve in,” said Thomson. “I’ve got to keep the pressure on.”
Thomson used his overpowering 120 mph serve to pressure Ballez. He was able to keep Ballez on his toes throughout the entire match. Even with a big lead, Thomson was able to keep his composure and never let up.
The match of the day was between Mesa’s James Howard and Southwestern’s Alan Soria. Howard was able to win the first game 6-2, but lost the second game 6-4.
When the two players split the first two games, they played a third game. The scoring format for the third game is the first player to 10 points and the player has to win by two.
Howard and Soria split every point up to the finish. Every time one of them went up a point the other would counter it.
The final score in the third game was 15-13 in favor of Southwestern’s Soria. Even though Howard came out of the match with the loss he showed a lot of heart in the match.
There was a lot of times when Howard’s back was against the net, but he found ways to get points back to keep his chances alive. Howard felt that he had some things to work on after the loss.
The desire to get better is perceptible throughout the entire team.
Davidson had a stellar performance during his singles match. Davidson defeated his opponent David Munoz 6-1 in the first game and 6-1 in the second game.
Magarchenko battled endlessly against his opponent Carlos Vazquez. Although Vazquez would not go away and was putting up a great fight, but the cool composure of Magarchenko would prevail in the end. He came out on top winning 6-4 beating Vazquez in straight sets.
Lomas did not break stride against Eduardo Lizarraga. Lizarrage was playing strong but Lomas played stronger and won in straight sets 6-4 and 6-3.
All three pairs from Mesa won in the doubles matches. Thompson also had another very strong performance with his teammate Nissem Cohen in their doubles match. They won 6-1 and 6-1.
The strength of the Mesa men’s tennis team was evident against Southwestern, and they are looking to keep using it against their future opponents. Their next match is Tuesday, March 10 against Glendale College.