Boys tennis falls to O’Dowd, Lick
Piedmont High School’s boys tennis team dropped a pair of matches by 6-1 scores to Bishop O’Dowd and Lick-Wilmerding-San Francisco. However, the matches were closer than they may appear.
On March 25, it was visiting Bishop O’Dowd with the win. Lucas Smolko got the Highlanders point with a 7-5, 7-5 win at No. 1 singles over the Dragons Neo Chai. Piedmont coach Jim Landes noted that the two always seem to play close matches.
Bishop O’Dowd’s Oliver Liao beat Nate Welch at No. 2, 6-3, 6-3. Marcelo Sachelari defeated Nick King at No. 3, 6-3, 6-4. Noah Amauel outlasted Emilio Misra at No. 4, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Misra had two match points in the tie-breaking set.
In No. 1 doubles, the Dragons Herny Hoffman and Ollie Pakzad downed Will Tenney and Luca LaForte, 6-2, 6-1. Alex Byrd and Lucas Tanaka beat Kasper Jansson and Gianluca Bini at No. 2, 6-3, 6-2. At No. 3, Jack Gonzalez and James Hollins edged Ben Davis and Hunter Fasteau, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4).
On March 28, visiting Lick-Wilmerding beat Piedmont. Landes shuffled his ladder and put LaForte and Bini at No. 1 doubles, and they were rewarded with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Connor Weel and Raj Sarbib.
The Tigers Lucas Wee and Kolby Rodgers beat Fasteau and Joey Assalian at No. 2, 6-3, 6-2. Michael Leno and Mateo Mon Fialo squeaked by Torsten Olsen and Robert Pinella at No. 3, 4-6, 6-0, 7-6 (4).
In singles, Saahil Mishra beat Smolko in a fantastic match at No. 1, 4-6, 7-5, 13-11. Armaan Mishra defeated Welch at No. 2, 6-3, 6-3. Caden Lee downed Tenney at No. 3, 6-3, 6-4. And Kingston Vora outlasted Jansson at No. 4, 3-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Piedmont was next scheduled to play at Encinal on April 1, and then host Arroyo on April 3.