The Los Banos Tigers boys tennis faced off against the Mira Loma Matadors in the highly anticipated semi-finals round of the 2024 season. Both teams showed off impressive skill. Coming into the match, the Tigers had an overall record of 9-2 while the Matadors had a record of 9-0.
The Tigers success this season has mainly come from their strong and reliable doubles teams. All three doubles teams have won every single one of their matches this year. The three doubles teams are Eric Ramos (10) and Jacob Camarillo (10) at number one, Javier Estrada (12) and Nelson Fabian (9) at two, and Yahir Zuniga (11) and Sebastian Paolini (11) at three. As predicted, all three doubles teams won their matches.
The Tigers singles players have struggled throughout the season. The ranking for singles players are Justin Gould (11) at one, Nick Tova (11) at two, Chase Fifield (10) at three, Luis Godina (12) at four, Angel Jimenez (12) at five, and Tyler Meza (10) at six. Out of all of their singles players, only two out of the six needed to win in order for the Tigers to advance to the finals.
Unfortunately, the Tigers season had come to an end after only one singles player won his match. Fifield ended up winning his match 6-2 and 6-4. This marks the second time in the past two years the Matadors have taken out the Tigers in the playoffs. The Matadors ended up losing in the finals to Sierra High School with a close game of 4-5.
Luckily for the Tigers, they are only losing four players, seniors Godina, Estrada, and Jimenez will graduate, and junior, Fabio Daniele will be returning to Germany. The Tigers have had major improvements throughout their roster. They’re full of many young talents and many players will continue practicing to have a chance to play singles next year.
Coaches JT Barcellos and Lynn Barcellos will be hosting summer practices for both boys and girls. The Tigers need to make sure they improve their singles players for next season. They will need to come back even stronger and better if they want a chance at making it to the finals.
