Flames ace Tigers, on pace for playoffs
A year ago, the Lodi High boys tennis team struggled to win one or two matches.
But after Thursday’s 7-2 victory over Tokay, the 2018 edition of the Flames is 5-3 in TriCity Athletic League matches, and is on pace for one of the league’s three playoff spots for the first time in many years.
“Last year was horrible. We won like one or two games. We couldn’t get anything going, and this year it’s a completely different team almost,” said Brady Pike, who defeated Tokay’s Shreyas Patel 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3 singles on Thursday. “We lost our first and third (players) last year, they were both seniors, and we thought this year would be worse than last season. We did not expect this to happen.”
Credit some of that to coach Jill Kelsey, who has coached the Flames’ girls squad since 2010 and had them competing for league titles every since, and credit some of that to the players and the work they put in during the offseason.
“When I was approached last spring about this time about coaching the boys, I had a meeting with them, and said I’ll consider coaching, but are any of you going to continue to play?” Kelsey said. “If you keep playing, then I will be more than happy to become your coach, but if you’re going to have nobody keep their hand on the racket, and wait until January of 2018 to start playing again, then I’m not going to do it. Because I’m not going to put forth the time and effort if they’re not.”
The Flames answered the call, and had at least half a dozen athletes at each of Kelsey’s clinics during the offseason.
“They all wanted to get better, because they weren’t comfortable losing every match. It was very demoralizing for them,” Kelsey said. “So those guys all came to a clinic every week, and they improved, and they did see that if you’re playing on a regular basis, your skills get better.”
The Flames have two more matches remaining in the regular season — against Tracy, which is battling with Lincoln for the top spot, on Monday, followed by a rematch against Tokay on Tuesday. The Tigers have given every team a head start this season, with not enough players to field a second and third doubles team.
The Tigers compete at the top, though — Tokay’s Nick Lozano defeated Lodi’s Jeffrey Barron 6-4, 6-3 at No. 1 singles on Thursday, and Nick Slater took down the Flames’ Bradon Clayworth 6-4, 6-4 for the Tigers’ only notches in the win column.
The depth was prevalent for Lodi, though, with Pike’s victory going along with Robby Glenn’s 6-1, 6-3 win over Nicholas Hillery, Owen Christensen’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Ben Scott and Matt Marini’s 6-1, 6-2 win over Omar Vervara to round out the singles matches.
Lodi’s Austin Clayworth and Owen Streyle won the only doubles match, 6-0, 6-1 over Justin
Thompson and Naqueeb Khan. “It’s pretty sick, especially compared to last year, because we did so bad,” Glenn said after his victory at No. 4 singles. “It’s the coach, and we have a few more players that have some skill.”