Heritage tennis wants progress in NCS playoffs

By Jeff Weisinger Staff Writer

Ten Bay Valley Athletic League titles, and nine in a row is impressive.

But head coach Beth Hill and the Heritage High boys tennis team want more, and with the North Coast Section playoffs next week, they’ll get their opportunity.

“We know that the competition is very tough,” Hill said. “We always learn from our losses more than we learn from our wins, so we are just going in there and hoping for the best.”

The Heritage boys team won their ninth straight BVAL title in singles play this season, but the doubles teams lost in the finals to an Antioch team that paired their top two singles players in doubles.

Besides the disappointing loss in the BVAL finals in doubles play, Heritage went undefeated in league play, a feat that surprised Hill who had several new players this season.

“I’m super proud of the boys because they worked really hard and they earned every single match that they played,” she said. “The hard work paid off for them.”

But with the NCS playoffs coming up with the seeding announced on Sunday, Hill and the rest of the team now face a new, better challenge: higher-rated teams that they don’t play against within the BVAL.

“NCS is just exciting tennis,” Hill said. “The teams over the hill seem to be stronger. Their legs are a little bit stronger than ours, they have higher UTR (univer- sal tennis rating) than we do. The players that play over the hill, they’re really good.” Nikhil Siao is a four-year senior with the program and is hoping that they can take a step forward in NCS play this postseason, his final season, before he graduates and heads off to UCLA next fall. He echoed Hill’s sentiments that the NCS playoffs bring a higher level of tennis.

Heritage boys tennis players (from left) Ethan Cruz, Cyrus Santos, Vince Cocciolone, Gabe Schmidt, Samuel Kim, and Nikhil Siao all show off with their BVAL tournament medals.

“Last year in NCS, we only got to the first round,” he said. “Hopefully this year we can take it a little further. I’m excited to get to play that kind of tennis again, something that as a tennis player you always look forward to.”

While Siao and Hill are eager for NCS play, they know that the road will be tough. The team is focused on progress over results when the postseason starts next week.

“We always want to have that goal of getting to the next stage and getting better each step we go,” Siao said. “We don’t want to put pressure on people to do well and have to win, but you always want to have a goal in mind.”

Even after falling in the doubles finals at the BVAL championships, the doubles teams are ready.

“Our mindset is that we have nothing to lose,” senior Zain Hannan, one of the doubles players, said. “We’re more of an underdog school. Me and (doubles partner senior Christopher Harto) are just going to do our best next week and if we can get a win, that will be nice. We’ll just play our hardest.”