West Ranch boys tennis beat Beverly Hills High 14-4 at home on Friday in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
The Wildcats, who played in Division 2 last year, were focused for their top-division competition.
“Keep it strong, stay in the moment, focus on one point at a time,” said Wildcat Davey Woodland of his playoff mindset. “Don’t look at it as a situation you haven’t been in before, just go out there and fight for every point and try to grind out three W’s.”
Every West Ranch singles player did just that.
Woodland, the Foothill League individual tournament champ in singles, won three sets 6-0, 6-3, 6-3. Noah Morrow won 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 and Quincy Walter-Eze won 6-2, 6-3, 6-1.
Jake Anderson was paired with Parker McBride, who usually plays singles, in doubles. The two won three sets 7-5, 6-1, 6-0.
“It’s really fun playing with him,” Anderson said. “His serve is very good, very consistent as well. He just controls the net and the baseline. He’s’ a really good all-around player, so it just makes me play better as well.”
Robert Kim and Aristo Turalakey won two sets in doubles 6-4 and 6-1.
The Cats (16-3-0) next play on the road at top-seeded Peninsula High of Rolling Hills Estates on Friday in the second round.
“We secured the win today,” said Anderson, “and we’re going up against the No. 1 seed on Friday so that’ll be a bigger challenge, but we’re looking forward to it.”
Valencia 10, Oak Park 8
In the first round of the Division 2 playoffs, the pairing of Evan Balmain and Chan Gi Kim won all three sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-3.
Jackson Boxall and Stephen Thay won two sets in doubles with scores of 6-3, 6-3, 3-6.
In singles, Batis Golestany and Ian Cho each won two sets.
The Vikings (13-5-0) will take on the winner of the Sage Hill/Culver City match in the second round.
Saugus 13, Pacifica 3
Erin Pang and Josh Chan swept in singles with respective scores of 6-1, 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-3, 6-0.
Gerard Elepano and Jigar Hira won three sets in doubles 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.
In the second round of the D3 playoffs, Saugus (15-4) will play the winner of the match between La Quinta/Westminster and JW North of Riverside.
