Page 56 - CLS Magazine Spring 2022

BOYS TENNIS RECAP
VARSITY TENNIS
The boys’ varsity tennis team had a very competitive season, despite very tough competition and losing 6 players (5 starters) from last year’s team. Thomas Davis, Emilio Lllerenas Soto, and freshman Andrew Chen handled most of the heavy lifting at the top
3 positions, and we got solid play at the lower half by Hayden Willett, Christopher O’Leary, and Ryan McDonald. Charles DeMey, Devan Amin, Alex Troni, Carter Babcock, Rohan Nadkarni, and David Tian all contributed to the team’s success in matches during the season. The Hawks finished tied for 3rd with Cannon in the CISAA conference, and finished the season 10-10. In their most complete match of the season, the Hawks went toe-to-toe with eventual champions Cary Academy in a 4-hour match before fall- ing to them at Duke Indoor in the quarterfinal round. Andrew Chen was named 1st Team All Conference, while Thomas Davis and Emilio Llerenas Soto each earned spots on the Second Team.
JUNIOR VARSITY TENNIS
Charlotte Latin’s boys junior varsity tennis team was a high-spirited group who quickly came together as a fun-loving, hard-playing team. This relatively inexperienced group achieved an impressive winning record of 7-3. Though anchored by four returning sopho- mores, the team included 6 freshmen, a sophomore transfer from out-of-state and several athletes with little or no previous com- petitive tennis experience. The season included convincing wins against Charlotte Catholic, Marvin Ridge High School, Providence Day School and Cannon School. Calvin Ehrenburg, at Line 1 (6-3), showed competitive play with his vastly improved backhand
and court coverage in his still-developing singles game. Freshmen Chanakya Ayinala (3-2) Neshanth Gaddam (3-3), and Andrew McDonald (3-3) contributed with single wins in the upper half of the line up. Solo Boyake and Nathan Butler finished out the season with wins in the lower half of the line up. Freshmen Chanakya Ayinala and Andrew McDonald (5-3) were a talented doubles pair who displayed solid teamwork and continuous improvement throughout the season.
MIDDLE SCHOOL TENNIS
In middle school boys’ tennis, our team finished strong especially since we only had three really experienced players and only nine players on the roster. We had a 2-7 record in the regular season. Unfortunately we had four rainouts, as well as injured and ill play- ers that really made a difference in at least two key matches. We lost to Covenant Day twice in the season but very narrowly the second time. Our boys were hopeful they would get one more shot at them, and we ended up playing them again in the finals after defeating Country Day in the semifinals. Our team turned on the afterburners with some impressive wins. Our final score against Covenant Day was 8-2! Winning our section of the draw in the playoff tournament brought our record to 4-9. Team awards were given to Clayton Hahn (Most Improved), Charlie Stubbs (Leadership & Sportsmanship), and Wilson Zhang (MVP for winning 17 or his 21 matches). I thoroughly enjoyed coaching this great group of guys!
SENIOR NIGHT TENNIS
“Success is never FINAL Failure is never FATAL, and it’s Courage that COUNTS”
—John Wooden
54 CHARLOTTE LATIN BOOSTER CLUB SPORTS MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022