It’s spring break this week, and that’s about the only thing that has slowed down the Homestead boys tennis team this season.
After winning three matches on consecutive days, April 8-10, the Mustangs entered the break undefeated with a 12-0 record, including 9-0 in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division and non-league victories over Lynbrook and Gunn of the De Anza Division and St. Francis of the West Catholic League.
Coach Vanessa Bogenholm’s squad, which features 11 freshmen and sophomores along with senior Morris Yang and juniors Aditya Mishra and Ryan Cheng, sandwiched 6-1 decisions over division foes Wilcox and Fremont around a 5-2 triumph at Gunn last week, and now have their sights on the El Camino team championship and an automatic entry into the Central Coast Section team tournament, which begins on May 7.
But first Homestead must finish what it started. Following the 10-day hiatus, the Mustangs will play four matches in four days, starting April 21 at Fremont. A non-league match with Harker and league contests at Mountain View (a team they previously blanked 7-0) and at home against second-place Los Gatos will wrap up the regular season. That last match may be the toughest, as Los Gatos seeks to avenge an earlier 4-3 loss to Homestead.
Freshmen Adit Kishen and WooJae Kim have shared the No. 1 singles position this season for the Mustangs. Last week Kishen improved to 11-0 by scoring straight sets wins at No. 1 singles in all three matches. Kim did not play against Wilcox, but improved his record to 7-2 with No. 2 singles victories against Gunn and Fremont.
Freshman Lucas Bandarkar showed his versatility, winning in straight sets at No. 2 singles against Wilcox and No. 3 against Gunn, before teaming with sophomore Cyrus Miremadi to win No. 1 doubles against Fremont.
Mishra raised his record to 6-0, winning the No. 4 singles contest against Gunn and No. 3 singles against Fremont.
Several sophomores chipped in to beat Wilcox. Aravind Patnam won a tiebreaker at No. 3 singles and Yatish Kamat won 6-4, 7-6 at No. 4. Miremadi and Andy Hou did not lose a game at No. 1 doubles, while Amit Kohli and Sam Kim combined to win at No. 3 in straight sets.
In the Gunn match, Miremadi and Kamat teamed for a win at No. 2 doubles. Against Fremont, Kohli battled to a 7-6, 7-5 win at No. 4 singles, and Cheng teamed with freshman Austin Bi for a 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 doubles.
In De Anza Division matches last week, Cupertino dropped a tight 4-3 decision to Gunn and Monta Vista lost 5-2 to Palo Alto. The Matadors bounced back the next day to top Sacred Heart Prep 5-2 in a non-league contest, improving their overall record to 9-6.
The Pioneers claimed the top two singles matches with sophomore Gautam Bulusu (6-3, 6-1) and junior Chirag Narayanakere (6-3, 6-3). Senior Kelvin Wang and junior David Kimaya combined to win No. 2 doubles 6-2, 6-4.
Sophomore Amit Batta (No. 2) and freshman Adithya Prabhakar (No. 4) continued to shine in singles play for Monta Vista last week. Batta and Prabhakar were the only players to win in both matches. Saxon Day won at No. 3 singles against SHP.
Diving
Homestead had three top-10 placers, but three-time Central Coast Section diving champion Colin Zeng of The King’s Academy finished first by a wide margin at the Palo Alto Invitational April 12 at Palo Alto High.
Zeng, who signed a National Letter of Intent in February to compete collegiately for Ohio State, racked up 631.95 points with his 11-dive program, more than 150 points better than the runner-up.
Dalton Miner was Homestead’s best finisher, placing fifth with 296.25, just 20 points out of third place, and teammates Bryce Leone (274.30) and Chance Dougherty (257.80) took sixth and eighth.
In the girls competition, Homestead’s Emily Hasser was 13th with 193.35.
Swimming
Seniors Colin Hong and Carly Reid each won two events and swam legs on two winning relay teams, leading Monta Vista past previously unbeaten Gunn in De Anza Division action on April 11.
Monta Vista’s boys won 93-83 and improved their league record to 4-1, while the girls stayed unbeaten at 5-0 with a 117-69 victory. The Matadors’ final dual meet is set for May 1 at Los Altos.
Hong won the boys 200-yard individual medley in 2:01.19 and the 100 backstroke in 56.18. He also led off for the victorious medley relay team (1:38.58), joining Keven Shang, Jarod Olay and Michael Chen. Later, Hong covered the second leg of the 400 free relay, combining with Brandon Pon, Shang and Chen to win in 3:17.62. Other event winners for the Matadors were Lucca Martins in the 200 free (1:45.99), Chen in the 50 free (22.12), Pon in the 100 free (48.16) and Shang in the 100 breaststroke (59.24).
On the girls side, Reid zipped to victory in the 50 free in 23.90 and the 100 free in 52.46. She led off the 200 free relay and anchored the 400 free unit. Reid, Lisa Kaunitz, Christina Cheng, Sarah Kaunitz combined to clock 1:37.92 in the 200 relay. Reid followed S. Kaunitz, Sayeh Faridnia and L. Kaunitz in the 400 and touched the wall at 3:45.27.
L. Kaunitz won the 200 IM in 2:09.27 and S. Kaunitz won the breaststroke in 1:08.49. Other Monta Vista winners were Christine Chan in the 100 butterfly (1:00.44) and Nanette Wu in the 100 back (1:01.39).
Volleyball
At 8-0, Mountain View may be tough to catch in the De Anza Division volleyball race. But Homestead made the battle for second place more interesting last week with three straight 3-0 wins.
The Mustangs improved to 4-3 by beating winless Eastside College Prep, previously once-beaten Monta Vista and Lynbrook over a span of four days. The Matadors went into spring break with a 4-2 record in division play, sharing second place with Los Gatos and Harker. Homestead was fifth and Lynbrook (3-4) slipped into sixth.
Joel Kitchen, a 6-foot-6 senior outside hitter, drilled 16 kills and sophomore Kyle Bugee had 11 to lead the Mustangs over the visiting Matadors 25-23, 27-25, 25-23 on April 9. Junior Alex Weisner delivered six blocks and senior Bryan Erickson chipped in with 12 digs for the Mustangs. Sophomore Alex Li paced Monta Vista’s attack with 14 kills.
Two days later at Lynbrook, Bugee (16 kills), Kitchen (11) and junior Jay Slaney (6 kills, 5 blocks) keyed Homestead’s 25-22, 25-22, 25-21 sweep. Sophomore Tim Sireci led the Vikings with 11 kills and junior Ali Khan had seven.
Golf
Jason Larsh earned medalist honors with a 35, helping Lynbrook beat Milpitas 209-298 in a De Anza Division match at par-30 Deep Cliff Golf Course on April 10.
