League champion tennis team aims for CCS victories

The varsity tennis team played its last league game against Homestead on April 19, seizing another victory with a score of 5-2. The Falcons’ league record is now 11-1, making them the De Anza League champions for the second consecutive year.

“Our goal was to repeat our success from last year,” said senior Neel Bedekar, who plays No. 1 singles. Another important league match was a 4-3 win against Gunn on April 16. The Falcons were tied for first in the league with Gunn, meaning the match would decide the league title.

The first time the teams played each other on March 4, the Falcons were able to pull out a close victory of 4-3.However, the first time the teams played, the Falcons still had a healthy Bedekar, who hurt his ankle and had to sit out for several weeks.

“Going into the match we knew it would be a tough match as they are the toughest team in the league to play,” No. 2 singles player Karthik Padmanabhan said. “It was really great that we could overcome [the injuries] as really helped solidify our spot the best team in the league.”

The match once again proved to be another close match as the teams were tied at 2-2 with three matches remaining that all went to a deciding third set. No. 2 doubles players junior Naved Krishnamurthy and senior Hans Sun won their match, putting the Falcons up 3-2.

With the team needing to win one more match to win the game against Gunn, the task was left to either number three doubles players junior Abhay Aanabathula and sophomore Matthew Kermin or number three singles player Andre Xiao.  

Xiao managed to win his match 7-5 in the third, clinching the win for the Falcons.

“With many players being injured throughout the season, it was a major boost to have won the game and ensure that we are one of the best teams in the area,” Padmanabhan said.

Marring their nearly perfect record is the boys’ 4-3 loss to Monta Vista on March 10, which they attribute to Bedekar’s ankle injury that kept him sidelined for six weeks. Bedekar has recently started to practice and hopes to compete in CCS.

“I’m proud of the way the team has stayed strong despite my absence,” Bedekar said. “They've proved to be resilient.”

The team's record puts them as a probable top-three seed in CCS, behind historical rival Menlo, to whom the team lost in the CCS finals last year.

“At this point, our goal is to hopefully go even further than last year at CCS,” Bedekar said.

Padmanabhan agrees that they are “making good progress” toward their goal.

“We’re proud of our success, but we’d like to take that No. 1 spot away from Menlo and win CCS, and ultimately the NorCal championship,” Bedekar said.

CCS will start on May 6 and the NorCal championships will begin on May 22. The top two teams from CCS will go to the Northern California Championship.