Boys’ tennis finishes undefeated in Ocean League and continues on to compete in CIF
Gregory BoehmStaff WriterBoys' tennis finished its season as undefeated Ocean League Champions and have entered the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs between the Ocean League competitors. On Wednesday, May 2nd, five Samo players competed in the CIF singles round. The following day, May 3rd, four Samo players competed in the CIF doubles teams’ round.During league, the Vikings beat Beverly, Culver and Inglewood both times that they met away and at home going undefeated, despite the rocky start the team had in preseason."We're all playing really well and it feels really good to go in strong to CIF," senior co-captain Zack Resnick said.Sophomores Ben Gelfand and Bret Friedland, freshman Alex Smolentsev, and Seniors Cristobal Rivera and Zack Resnick all competed in CIF singles. Out of these players, Rivera emerged victorious and will be competing against a Beverly player in the final round of singles, today, May 7. Because Samo had five players competing in singles as opposed to the other teams who only had three, Smolentsev and Rivera actually had to compete against each other in semi-finals.The last singles game of the day between Gelfand and a Beverly player was a long and close one. Gelfand won the first set, but lost the second causing the game to go into a ten point tie breaker which Gelfand lost 10-6."It was a hard match. I started really well, but I was really tired since it was my third match," Gelfand said.Rivera went on to singles finals to play the Beverly player that Gelfand lost to. Each match is the best of three sets and Rivera won the match 6-0 6-1. Rivera now advances to CIF Sectionals where he will be competing against tennis players from all of Southern California.On Thursday, May 3rd boys' tennis began their CIF doubles competition. Two Samo teams competed, one consisting of Gelfand and senior co-captain Zack Resnick, and the other Junior Alex Smolentsev and sophomore Bret Friedland. Both teams advanced to the finals where they ultimately competed against each other."I'm so proud of these guys[Resnick, Smolentsez, Freidland and Gelfand]," Head Coach Wilston Poon said. "Whoever wins between them now in the finals doesn't matter. They've pulled out some big wins in the league tournament and I'm really proud of Bret and Alex for taking out the number one cedes. But as I said, it doesn't matter to me who wins I'm just glad they both qualified."Just by making it to the finals, both teams qualify for CIF sectionals, but Smolentsev and Friedland defeated Gelfand and Resnick in a tiebreaker and are now the number one cedes for CIF sectionals."I'm very thankful for Bret and how he managed to pull through when I couldn't," Smolentsev said. "I couldn't have made it this far without him."According to Poon, CIF sectionals are scheduled to take place in about one to two weeks. Next week boys' tennis begins team CIF which is where the entire team competes against other schools in Division II."We are the second cedes right now[in team CIF]," Poon said.gboehm@thesamohi.com