Valencia Boys Tennis Downs Camarillo
The Valencia Vikings boys tennis team got a slight reprieve from what has been a demanding early season schedule in a 13-5 victory over the visiting Camarillo Scorpions on Tuesday afternoon at Valencia High School.
The Vikings’ doubles side led the way for Valencia, winning eight of nine sets. “I knew they had (No. 1 singles player Corey Karen), but I knew they were pretty young,” said Valencia head coach Annie Kellogg. “It was competitive and we just barely finished. They were a worthy opponent and they kept us out there until the sun went down.” The Scorpions managed four singles victories. “(Karen) was definitely the dominant one, but they were all good,” said Valencia’s Joey Fernicola, who won one singles set, 6-1. “He was obviously the best one there, but we still had to work for all our other matches to win.” The victory comes just days after Valencia made the finals of the Division 2 2013 California High School Boys Tennis Classic in Clovis. “We just played really well,” Kellogg said of the tournament. “We played De La Salle in the first round and that was a close one. A bunch of 10-point tiebreakers. It was just a good tournament for us — we came up a little short in the final (to Redwood High School).” Still, Valencia was happy with the way it responded on Tuesday. “It’s been pretty tough,” Fernicola said. “It’s been close matches, which has been good for our experience to help us become better. It was still pretty tough (today). They weren’t really easy sets, we still had to work for it. But it was a nice win today from all the close losses we’ve had.” Valencia is back on the court on Thursday, when it hosts Hoover High at 3 p.m. “I feel confident in our team right now,” Fernicola said. “After Clovis, it gave us a lot of good experience going into season. We’ll be really prepared.” |