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By Nate San Nicolas

Panthers sophomore Noah Basurto-Olsen. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)

Despite suffering a disappointing defeat to the JFK Islanders, the FD Friars tennis team was able to come back strong this grey clouded Thursday afternoon and dominate the Guam High Panthers in textbook fashion with a score of 32-5.

The Friar Tennis program had experienced four years of flawless success, achieving an impressive 52 game win streak along with four straight championship titles before being taken down by the JFK Islanders. Such an accomplishment is a milestone on its own, and to come back the next day and perform at top level under cloudy weather shows how much Friars’ coach Dan Tinsay has disciplined his boys.

In the singles matches of the afternoon, FD’s top player Joshua Cepeda breezed through his match, defeating Guam High’s top player Isaac Smith 8 – love and the Friars dominated in the other match as Andrew Chung defeated Noah Olsen 8-2.

Friars freshman Andrew Chung. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)

“Yesterday’s loss (to JFK) motivated me to get better and focus on my weak points,” said Cepeda, “I wasn’t mentally focused yesterday when I was playing, and that really hurt me. So I’m focusing more on my mental game and staying focus. Every team out there, especially JFK is young, and I need to work hard if I want to get better.”

“The win came down to a close match between us and JFK, and just like any sport, there’s a fine line of separation between a win and a loss, and the other team came out on top,” said Coach Dan on the loss to the Islanders, “I told them tomorrow’s another day, and here we are taking the courts and performing well.”

Defending a title in any sport for one year is a tough task on its own, but for four years in a row? Now that’s something remarkable to notice on its own. Suffering the loss of players to graduation each year is a struggle for high school teams, but through the years FD has consistently put out a highly competitive squad.

Panthers freshman Isaac Smith. (photo by Errol Alegre, Jr.)

“The most important thing is to nurture the desire to play, because once I teach them that, I can easily work on their abilities, their physical abilities, their conditioning, and most importantly, teamwork,” responded Coach Dan when asked how he maintains such consistency with his players.

“Even though we have had a few superstars through the years, there are always players who come in with no experience whatsoever, and if they work hard in practice, they will play. I am a strong believer in the saying ‘You practice how you play,’ showing a good rotation with everyone in every game.”

After coaching tennis for a total of 16 years (nine at St. John’s and seven at FD), Coach Dan Tinsay is a mentor who is much experienced in the game of tennis. One can expect to see more successful years coming from the FD Tennis Program, especially with such impressive determination.

Official Scores
Joshua Cepeda (FDMS) d. Isaac Smith (GHS) 8-0
Andrew Chung (FDMS) d. Noah Olsen (GHS) 8-2
Justin Johnson / Jonathan Toves (FDMS) d. Aldrin Alvarez / Zane Hart (GHS) 8-2
Zebediah Martin / Jin Wook Mok (FDMS) d. Ben Bloom / Anthony Sorto (GHS) 8-1

TENNIS STANDINGS

Boys

JFK 7-0
St. John’s 6 -0
FD 5-1
Harvest 3-3
Guam High 3-4
Okkodo 3-4
GW 2-6
Sanchez 1-6
St. Paul 0-6

Girls

St. John’s 8-0
Harvest 6-1
GW 6-2
Sanchez 5-2
Academy 3-3
Guam High 4-4
Okkodo 3-5
JFK 1-6
St. Thomas 1-6
St. Paul 0-8

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