The boys’ tennis team beat Sacred Heart Prep 5-2 at Paly Wednesday afternoon.  The team won three out of the four singles matches, including the top singles match, and two of the three doubles matches.

Blake Smith (’14), the number one singles player for the Vikings, won the first set 7-6, lost the second set 6-3 and won the tie-breaker 12-10.  Smith took the lead for most of the tie-breaker, although his opponent started to come back towards the end.

“I remembered to breathe,” Smith said. “I just knew that the guy was going to be trying to end the match and going for shots because he was behind. I thought that if I just played consistent, I would win.”

Coach Andy Harader was impressed by Smith’s performance on the court.

“It was nice to see Blake pull out a match at number one,” Harader said. “He’s had a tough road this season and he’s starting to play really well, which I’m very happy about.”

Overall, the team was content with the way they played today.

“I thought we played really well,” Smith said. “We’ve been playing some really hard teams and I think we really carried over that level of competition to this match.”

Harader agreed with Smith, and was equally proud of how the team performed in the match.

“We played great,” Harader said. “I was really impressed with my singles players. They were really hot today.”

Although the team played well, there are still things that they need to improve on for the future.

“We are continuing to work on serving and volleying, which is certainly going to help our doubles players and also our singles players,” Harader said. “Just being more confident is also something we need to work on and focusing during times of trouble.”

Paly will play next on Thursday, March 13, at 3:30 p.m. at Cupertino.  The next home match for the Vikings will be on Tuesday, March 18, at 3:30 p.m. against Saratoga.