On Mar. 20, the UHS Boys’ Tennis team had their GOW where they dethroned their rival, the Corona Del Mar Sea Kings, in what was possibly the biggest match of the year.
Entering into the match ranked second in CIF with the Sea Kings ranked first, the Trojans had more motivation than ever, especially after losing to CDM earlier in the season at an away game. With the GOW bringing in a crowd of over 60 people to the match, UHS came out of the gates extremely hot, with senior captains SangHyuk Im and Bradley Yung taking the first doubles set 6-0.
“There was a huge crowd and that really helped us get pumped up,” Im said. “We were really able to use the massive turnout to our advantage to give our team that extra boost of motivation.”
The other two doubles pairs from UHS would also go on to win their sets quickly, shifting the momentum in the Trojans’ favor. Junior Arystarkh Len won his first set against CDM #3 singles, while CDM #1 and #2 singles barely managed to win their sets to make it a close match.
In the next round, Im and Yung started extremely strong again, winning their second set with ease and doing some crowd work along the way. The other two doubles pairs, consisting of junior Humam Alajeely, sophomore Langston Walter-Wu, junior Joseph Chan and junior Cedric Lichtsteiner, followed Im and Yung with another two wins. Freshman JiHyuk Im also pulled out a win against CDM #3 singles, but once again the Trojans were bested by CDM #2 and #1 singles players.
The final round was a mirror image of the first, with Im and Yung getting off to another hot start. The Sea Kings #1 doubles finally managed to get a win, but in the end, it was not enough and the match ended with the Trojans victorious. The final score was 11-7 in favor of the Trojans.
“After our previous loss against CDM, I was disappointed and hated that we lost to our rival team,” Yung said. “This time around, we all knew we had to win. Since it was our GOW, we were all extra motivated and hyped to win in front of such a large crowd turnout.”
The match marked a massive win for UHS, taking the #1 CIF spot from their rival and gaining much-needed momentum for the All-American Tournament.
