Last Friday, on February 20, 2026, LACES Varsity boys tennis played their first game of the season against Southeast and won 13-4.
After the hour-long drive to the opposing teams’ courts, LACES got right on the courts to warm up. It was a cold day, but luckily for the players, there wasn’t any wind to interfere with play. The match started at 3 p.m. with the lineup as follows: singles No. 1 Eli Espiritu, singles No. 2 Ali Haris, singles No. 3 Diego Abrego Colorado, doubles No. 1 Gael Saenz and Luke Watanabe, doubles No. 2 Mikus Arnold and Samuel Fedida and doubles No. 3 Kunai Jumaliev and Sathyan Shah.
The match was played round-robin style with one set to six games, meaning each singles player competed against each opposing singles player, with the same format used for doubles.
With many players from last year’s roster, boys’/girls’ tennis is in a prime position to go far in this year’s season.
“We only lost one senior last year, so our team chemistry is the same… but it’s more mature, it’s wiser, and seeing them all take on leadership roles in the group and seeing how my younger boys mirror their behaviors has been very, very interesting; it’s good,” said LACES Tennis Coach Philip Chung.
Heading into the season opener, confidence remained high as the team prepared for its first competitive test of the year.
“It’s going to be a strong match. Yeah, we’re going to do good,” said Chung.
LACES started off the match with speedy wins from doubles No. 1 and No. 2, both ending 6-0 in favor of LACES. Doubles player Gael Saenz reflected on the team’s performance following the win.
“I think we played well overall, but we had a few mishaps that shouldn’t have happened… I need to work more on my backhand, but I feel like my forehand and my volleys were strong in the game,” said sophomore Gael Saenz.
Southeast had a strong singles No. 1 player, who caused the team a little trouble during the match.
“The hardest part of tennis isn’t winning; it’s not losing,” said Chung.
After an intense close singles match and continued competition throughout the afternoon, improvement from last season was evident in serving performance.
“My serving was a lot better; I rarely double-faulted, which was something I struggled with last year, but I put a lot of practice into that, which paid off this year. I would say I have to work on my footwork more this year,” said senior Eli Espiritu.
The team celebrated the win together on the bus ride home, highlighting the strong chemistry that continues to define this year’s squad.