Manual’s boys’ varsity tennis team defeated Collegiate on Wednesday, winning four out of five courts to take home the win.

Playing at number one singles was Alex Englund (12), playing number two singles was Yash Pathak (10) and playing number three single was Keanu Kawata (10). On the doubles side, Ethan Paek (11) and Aryan Arusam (10) consisted of the number one doubles team, while Aiden Vilo (11) and Sharvil Saxena (9) made up the number two doubles team. 

Pathak and Kawata “won big singles matches,” while Paek and Arusam “remain undefeated and played in a dominant fashion” on the doubles side. Vilo and Saxena also “won a big match at two doubles,” which ended up going to a third-set tie-break, according to head coach Ken Stovall (Math).  

Though “Englund lost a very close match at one singles to one of the top players in the state, we will get a chance at regionals for him and for us to redeem ourselves,” Stovall said. 

With a competitive top half of the lineup for both Manual and Collegiate, both teams were off to very good starts. Commonly, there were some groundstroke and return of serve errors on both sides, but ultimately Manual was able to find the holes on the court and take advantage of this, putting away the ball and hitting winner shots. 

With a great ending and another win to add to their belt, Stovall still noted some things to improve upon, specifically on the singles side: “[they] need to come out more aggressive in the second set and continue the dominance that they showed in the first set, instead of allowing their opponent to gain confidence and play better.”

The boys won again at KCD on Thursday, winning five courts out of seven. They play St. X this Saturday in Sectionals.