After school on January 30, boys’ tennis tryouts for the Varsity and junior Varsity teams commenced at the courts near the Blackford campus.

Timothy Luong (11), a returning player from last year’s junior varsity team, commented on how this year’s tryouts differed from previous years.

“[Before, they] were relatively intense because losing one match meant you were not on varsity,” Timothy said.

However, new players find this year’s tryouts to be less demanding. Arya Kaul (9) expresses that the tryouts “were less stressful than the middle school ones [and] these were pretty relaxed and fun”.

Approximately fifteen students across each grade showed up on the first day of tryouts. Some interested students are not attending the beginning of the tryouts because they are either playing a winter sport or missing their yellow card.

Once the final cuts are decided, Timothy believes “[The coaches] [try] to test everyone fairly to ensure the best possible team”.

Led by head coach Craig Pasqua, the boys varsity tennis team has reached the California Coast Section playoffs for nine years in a row.