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The tennis players at Saratoga High didn't accomplish what they had hoped to in the 2005 season.
The 2006 campaign, however, could be an entirely different story.
Head coach Rico Williams said of last year, "It was so-so and not what we expected." But as he looks ahead to this season he says, "We're much stronger than last year."
The Falcons have proven it so far. They're off to an 11-0 start in 2006 and a 6-0 start in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League.
"This year, with just six days of practice, we went to Fresno and won it all," added Williams, referring to the 84-team tournament played in early March.
Leading the Saratoga effort this spring is a singles line-up bolstered by varsity veterans Jeff Gast, Ravi Raghavan, Emerson Lin and Rohit D'Costa.
Top returning doubles players include Albert Chiang, Michael Wu and Abhinav Dev. Raghavan and Chiang are the only seniors on the list and Lin and Wu are sophomores. The others are all juniors.
Top prospects up from last year's undefeated junior varsity team are sophomores Sameet Ramakrishma, Jeff Bair and Eugene Tseng and junior Amit Anunkaman. Senior Arvind Chani is another promising newcomer on the Saratoga court.
The Falcons ran their league record to 6-0 last week with a tight 4-3 win over Los Altos and a 7-0 shutout win over Palo Alto.
Volleyball team splits in
El Camino Division play
The Saratoga boys volleyball team nailed its first win of the El Camino Division season last week with a 25-12, 25-13, 25-22 victory over Wilcox.
The Falcons are now 1-3 in league play and 7-9 overall.
Super sophomores Mike Vetrone and Kent Johnson led the effort. Vetrone hammered home a team-high 16 kills and Johnson had six kills, two blocks and two service aces. Senior James Liao contributed with seven aces and Peter Sclavos had five kills and a block. Nick McConnell was the team assist leader.
Earlier in the week the Falcons had lost a tough four-game decision to Mountain View 12-25, 25-15, 25-15, 25-19. Vetrone had 16 kills and three aces to lead the Falcons. Mike Hutchins had six kills and Johnson and Anmar Kothari added five apiece. McConnell was the assist leader.
Golfers win two
Shaun Pienkos and Carl Wheatley led the Saratoga golf team to a pair of wins last week. Pienkos fired a 2-under par 34 at the Santa Clara Golf and Tennis Center to lead the Falcons to a 199-228 win over Wilcox.
Wheatley carded a 2-over 38 at Summitpointe to pace the Falcons to a 202-239 win over Milpitas. Saratoga is 6-1 in El Camino Division play.
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