Coming off a win against defending Division 3 CIF Southern-Section champion Buckley, Hart boys tennis hosted and defeated Golden Valley Tuesday afternoon, 16-2.
Dropping the first set to Golden Valley’s Dylan Yu, 2-6, Hart’s Jax Liescheidt came back and rallied to win the following two sets, 6-1 and 6-1.
In a similar rally, Hart’s Alex Daigneault dropped the first set to Yu, 1-6, but came back to win the final two sets 6-1 and 6-2.
Hart’s Luke Papayoanou won the next match sweeping all three sets, 6-0.
“Luke has really been picking it up this year,” said Hart head coach Allan Hardbarger. “He’s been playing solid all year, but the last few matches he has been focused on every single point and moving well and playing aggressively at the right times.
“…It’s very rare for a freshman to have talent and play smart.”
Hart’s doubles teams fared similarly, sweeping all three matches.
Daniel LaForteza and Jeremy Killian won all three sets 6-1, 6-1, 6-1.
Tanner Spendlove and Spencer Kline were sublime on the day, sweeping their doubles match 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.
“I think that our team has been peaking at the right time,” Hardbarger said. “We have won the last three matches in a row with the win against Golden Valley today.
“We had a great match against Buckley yesterday, beating a defending CIF champion, so we have been focused.”
Hart will travel to Valencia Thursday, while Golden Valley will host West Ranch on Thursday, as well.
“Moving forward you try to learn from a loss and you just want to teach the kids to keep competing,” said Golden Valley head coach Josh Stimac. “We have West Ranch coming up and they are a very good team, so we just have to keep our heads up and compete.”
