By Justin Vigil-Zuniga
Signal Sports Writer
Valencia (3-4, 3-1) dominated their home league meeting with the Canyon Cowboys (0-3).
The Vikings looked sharp Thursday in their singles and doubles matchups, launching crisp serves and receiving well, giving Canyon nothing easy.
Valencia’s Aidan Reyes and Shivam Khadiya both finished the day with scores of 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0. Valencia’s No. 2 man Jeremy Fung won his matches 6-2, 6-0 and 6-0.
Reyes served well and his quick blasts were often too much for his Cowboy opponent to return.
Valencia was winning everything until the final match of the day on the doubles side.
Cowboys’ brothers Jacob and Sean Cowan played great all day long but weren’t able to get into the win column until their final match with Vikings’ duo Justin Hwuang and Vedant Khadiya.
Sean registered three straight service aces to help lift the Cowboys to victory.
“We focus on making sure to get serves in and cutting unforced errors,” said Canyon head coach Richard Bristow.
Both teams gathered around the court for a great finale of the day where the Cowan brothers won 6-3, gifting Canyon a point for the day.
Vikings’ duo Daniel Yoon and Logan Castallo were also menaces for Valencia. The pair finished 6-1, 6-0 and 6-0 on the day, making quick work of everyone. Yoon’s serves, like Reyes’, were also tough for Canyon to return. Castallo looked like a volleyball player on the net as a service partner, sending everything back to the Cowboys’ side.
Bristow was also high on his returners Carlos Abelarde and Rodrigo Ginocchio, saying both are often the first on the court and need the least instruction with what to work on.
“Overall, the whole team is full of great kids,” said Bristow. “I enjoy watching them develop their games and their overall kindness and good sportsmanship.”
Valencia head coach Darrell Peries now has three league wins in his first year. Peries has a lot of depth on his roster and sent out a lot of players who typically come off the bench for the start Thursday. These players have all made some big strides this season.
“Throughout the season, all the players have made pretty big improvements from where we started in January,” said Peries.
Valencia will host Golden Valley on Tuesday while Canyon will return home to host Hart on Thursday.
