BOYS' TENNIS NOTEBOOK: CANYON LOOKING FOR BIGGER, BETTER THINGS TWO LOSSES OPEN FOOTHILL LEAGUE PLAY.Byline: Nevin Barich Nevin Barich (born August 6, 1979) is a former American sports journalist now working as the Senior Editor of The National Notary, a trade magazine based in Los Angeles with a circulation of more than 300,000 nationwide. Staff Writer For the Canyon High boys' tennis team, the worst is over. For now. The Cowboys cowboys, in American history. 1 Tory marauders, adherents to the British cause in the American Revolution, who fought in the contested area of Westchester co., N.Y. recently opened Foothill League play with matches against the league's two best teams - Burbank, the 13-time defending league champion, and Valencia, which might be able to unseat Burbank. Though it meant opening league play with two losses, Canyon coach Bob Gravett did see the advantages of playing the top two teams right off the bat. ``It is good in some respects,'' Gravett said. ``You see the best competition right away and no one else looks quite as strong. Still, it's nice when you can open league play on a more positive note. ``I'll tell you one thing: Both Burbank and Valencia are as good as advertised. They're definitely the top two teams in our league. The rest of us will be fighting it out for third.'' So Canyon hopes to finish third and get that final playoff play·off also play-off n. Sports 1. A final game or series of games played to break a tie. 2. A series of games played to determine a championship. Noun 1. spot. But the team has a good chance with four returning seniors on the roster. Kevin Khalsa, Anthony Schlehner, Dave McMurrin and Jonah Boublis switch between singles and doubles, allowing Canyon some flexibility. ``One of the nice things about our four seniors is that they're all very versatile,'' Gravett said. ``Since they can all switch between singles and doubles, we may have a distinct advantage against the other league teams once we've played them the first time around. When we face them a second time, we'll know their weakness and try to put some of our stronger players over to that weakness to take advantage.'' That has Gravett optimistic op·ti·mist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op . ``We're definitely capable of finishing third,'' Gravett said. ``We will really have to play well to earn it. We'll have to get past Burroughs, and Hart is a perennial perennial, any plant that under natural conditions lives for several to many growing seasons, as contrasted to an annual or a biennial. Botanically, the term perennial powerhouse A fourth-generation language from Cognos that was introduced in the late 1970s for midrange computers. It supports both character-oriented, terminal-based applications as well as Windows clients. Applications developed under PowerHouse can be imported into Cognos' Axiant client/server environment. though they've lost a lot of seniors. Also, Saugus is coming back after being down for a while.'' --Changing of the guard: Valencia took a huge step toward ending Burbank's league reign with a victory over the Bulldogs last week. The match was tied 9-9, but Valencia won in games 82-77. The Vikings won six of nine doubles matches and No. 1 singles player Andrew Papworth took two of three sets. ``We have homegrown home·grown adj. 1. Raised or grown at home. 2. Originating in or characteristic of a locality: "Rock is homegrown music in the United States, evolved from blues and country and Tin Pan Alley" tennis players here,'' Valencia coach Anne Kellogg said. ``We have no tennis center or club. We just have kids who work really hard. We're not a farm who can whip out whip out or off Verb to take (something) out or off quickly and suddenly: she whipped off her glasses tennis players like Burbank can at the Burbank Tennis Center. We just have kids who love to play. This is huge. It's like a dream.'' --Rebuilding year: Hart started the season losing seven of its first eight games, which is not surprising because the Indians lost seven players from last season. One of those players was Adam Davidson, last year's league MVP (Multimedia Video Processor) A high-speed DSP chip from Texas Instruments, introduced in 1994. Officially introduced as the TMS320C80, it combines RISC technology with the functionality of four DSPs on one chip. , who is currently playing No. 4 singles at Azusa Pacific. ``I never sensed things would be this bad,'' Hart coach Chris Mansfield said. ``I always hope we can do better, but I know the kids are trying as hard as they can.'' Shan Fernando (No. 1 singles), Hiram Patel and Zach Cancio have been the standouts for Hart. Patel and Cancio are both underclassmen. ``We have some great potential for next year,'' Mansfield said. |
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