The boys’ tennis season for the Foothill League came to an end on Thursday with the West Ranch Wildcats ending the season as the Foothill League champions following a 13-5 win over the Hart Hawks at home.
In singles play, the Wildcats (11-2, 11-1) went 6-3 across the three rounds with the lone wins from the Hawks coming from the play of Hart’s Nixon Liescheidt, who went 6-1, 6-0, 6-4.
In doubles play, the Wildcats (3-13, 3-9) swept the first and third rounds over the Hawks and went 7-5 across the three rounds to clinch the overall match win.
The Wildcats are 11-1 in Foothill League play and are the champions of the Foothill League after the Vikings claimed the title last year.
As for Hart, the loss dropped the Hawks to fifth in the league standings with a 3-9 record and they are out of contention for the playoffs with the automatic qualifier.
The Foothill League grants the top four spots in the standings automatic qualifiers to the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section playoffs, which include West Ranch, Golden Valley, Valencia and Saugus.
The first round of the playoffs is set to begin on May 6 with the CIF set to release the pairings on Saturday, May 2.
Until then, the next competition for the Foothill League teams will be on Tuesday, April 28, in league prelims that will determine who moves on to the finals on Wednesday, April 29, and declare the individual and doubles champions.
After Thursday’s matches, here are scores from around the Foothill League:
Valencia 11, Golden Valley 7: The Valencia Vikings (12-8, 10-2) secured the road win over the Golden Valley Grizzlies (13-4, 9-3) to claim the second spot in the Foothill League standings.
Both teams will move on to the playoffs as the Vikings are in second while the Grizzlies remain in third place in the Foothill League with a 10-2 record.
Castaic 12, Canyon 6: The Castaic Coyotes (4-16, 2-10) secured their second Foothill League win of the season at home over the Canyon Cowboys (2-15, 1-11).
With the win, the Coyotes have won their fourth game of the season but remain in sixth place in the Foothill League and fall out of contention for an automatic qualifier alongside the Cowboys, who finished seventh.
