Costa Boys Tennis Dominates Visiting Roadrunners

To be successful going forward, the Mira Costa High boys' tennis team knows that it will need a consistent effort from both the singles and doubles players.

On Tuesday, the Mustangs were consistent in one facet: They all were victorious.

In a dominating victory, Mira Costa won all 18 sets played against visiting Crossroads, many of them by the count of 6-0.

"We've struggled some this season,'' Mira Costa coach Joe Ciasulli said. ''We've had some people playing in other tournaments, and sometimes it's a matter of getting our doubles teams to match the level of our singles guys.''
 
The Mustangs were without talented junior Greg Scott, who is playing in Rancho Mirage at the Easter Bowl Junior Spring National Championships.
 
But freshman Ben Sands, whose strong serve led to numerous aces, did not lose a single game playing in place of Scott, cruising to wins of 6-0, 6-0, 6-0.  

"This helps for confidence," Sands said. " I've been fighting some nerves here and there, but I'm trying to put less pressure on myself and play with nothing to lose and be positive. " 

Seniors Parker Kelley and Devon Sousa played one set each, both winning easily 6-0. That afforded some younger subs the chance to see some extended action, and they did not disappoint. Willem Kamoen, a junior, won both his sets (6-1, 6-1) and freshman Michael Carella did not lose a game in his two sets (6-0, 6-0).

"We have three super singles players in Scott, Kelley and Sousa," Ciasulli said. "Scott is in the top five in the country, Kelley is ranked in the teens for Southern California and Sousa is top 50 as well. It's been difficult to get them all together at once. When they are, we're successful." 
 
The Mustangs' doubles teams were equally as successful against the Roadrunners.
 
The No. 1 doubles team of seniors David Curtis and Brian Humbarger were victorious in all three of their round-robin matches, winning 7-5, 6-1 and 6-0.

"This is our second year playing together, and we've improved a lot," Curtis said. "It's a lot of fun playing as number ones especially if you're winning. We just need to do that consistently."

The No. 2 team of Toni Cvitanic and Matt Sumen won its matches 7-5, 6-2 and 6-0. Jjuniors Will Wong and Chris Standbrook cruised to wins of 6-2, 6-1 and 6-0 to round out doubles play.

"Our doubles got good practice today," Ciasulli said. "They need to continue to work on sticking their volleys; there is a tendency to not have enough backspin. We need to not only get the advantage point, but keep it." 
 
Sumen, a freshman, echoed his coach. "We've been practicing a lot and things are getting better. There is a lot of work to be done on mechanics still. We're just trying really hard to improve in that area.''