Team result: Country Day lost at Forest Lake 5-3 on March 19 to fall to 2-1.
Individual results: Senior Leonardo Eisner lost 6-3, 6-1, and senior Michaela Chen fell 6-2, 6-0. In doubles, freshmen Vanessa Escobar and Tina Huang won 10-2, and sophomores Ming Zhu and Ashwin Rohatgi triumphed by the same score.
Comment by coach Jamie Nelson: “We had to default three matches, as we had no one to play No. 2 boys or girls singles. Leo suffered his first league defeat, and Michaela also lost. That gave Forest Lake the five points needed to win.
“Two points for the Cavs came in boys and girls doubles. Our third point came on Forest Lake’s default of No. 2 girls doubles. (Freshmen) Sicily (Schroeder) and Arikta (Trivedi) were disappointed but happy to be on the travel squad.
“Leo has agreed to be team captain, which will improve communication between the coach and the team regarding match-day availability.”
Inside info from Eisner: “I love playing against this dude because he is slightly better than me. It’s more fun to play against someone who is a bit more skilled because it brings your own skills out more. We had plenty (of) rallies that went on for a while, so my shots were consistent.
“He has always been great at hitting high topspin shots. He also can place the ball where he wants. Those two things make it difficult to return his fast balls.
“Even though the score shows a big difference, about 10 out of 16 games went to deuce, meaning we are very close. I just wasn’t able to finish it off. I will need to work on my second serve because that was failing more times than I expected.”
Inside info from Rohatgi: “Ming and I didn’t have as many communication problems as last year, but (our communication skills) are not as good as the other team’s. We would sometimes miss a ball because we wouldn’t communicate who should get the ball. Communication definitely needs some improvement.
“Although we left school 20 minutes late and accidentally went to the wrong court, we arrived there on time and would’ve been on the courts before the other team if we (hadn’t gone) to the wrong courts.”
Next match: Thursday, March 21, at 4 p.m. at Encina.
—By Sarina Rye
