High school boys tennis preview: Mesa ready for action

Amara Aguilar

The Costa Mesa High boys tennis squad has a one-two punch in

singles and will look to develop its doubles teams during the Mustangs’

run this season.

Senior co-captain Spencer Solomon will anchor the Mustangs at the No.

1 singles spot while co-captain Cuong Nguyen, also a senior, will fill

the No. 2 position.

“Those two seniors will be the nucleus of our singles lineup,” Mesa

Coach Bill Harader said. “They will have a fairly good chance of being

competitive in preleague matches. Our league is pretty tough with CdM and

Northwood. Those schools have a lot more kids than we do.”

At No. 3 singles will be Billy Halverson, the last of three seniors on

the squad.

“He’s a good athlete,” Harader said. “He has good potential. He just

lacks experience. We are going to look for him to improve the most during

the whole season. He will help us in a leadership role. He’s already

exhibited that.”

Garrett Sneen and Huy Le will take the No. 1 doubles spot while Albert

Nguyen and T.J. Matthews play at No. 2. The third team will consist of

Brian Nguyen and Calvin Thai-Vo.

“This year is going to be a building year,” Harader said. “We have

some fairly good athletes, but it takes three years to groom strokes and

fundamentals. The only way to get that is experience.”

In addition to three seniors and three sophomores, the rest of Mesa’s

squad consists of 10 freshmen.

“Many of the kids already are working on a lot of fundamentals,”

Harader said. “Some are really green and new to the whole game, but we

have good kids that want to try and put forth 100 percent effort.”

The Mustangs kicked off the season Thursday with a 14-4 loss to host

El Modena. Solomon swept, 6-1, 6-1, 6-0, and Cuong Nguyen picked up a

singles victory.

Mesa’s next match is Monday against host Ocean View at 3:15 p.m. The

Mustangs begin league play March 21 at University.

“We’ll probably compete with Estancia in our league, but against the

other teams we may win a few sets,” Harader said. “It’s going to be a

tough grind for us. The kids know that and they have good attitudes. They

set their own goals to make improvements with the basic fundamentals.”

Costa Mesa boys tennis roster

Spencer Solomon Sr.

Cuong Nguyen Sr.

Billy Halverson Sr.

Garrett Sneen Fr.

Huy Le Fr.

Albert Nguyen So.

Brian Nguyen Fr.

T.J. Matthews So.

Calvin Thai-Vo Fr.

Toni Nguyen So.

Brenden McNulty Fr.

Britt Wase Fr.

Daniel Gomez Fr.

Canh Mai Fr.

Jeremiah Campano Fr.

Andrew Nguyen Fr.

Coach: Bill Harader