Livingston and Riverbank were the opponents this past week for the Escalon tennis team – and both the Wolves and Bruins were defeated by the Cougars.

Tuesday, March 26 the team traveled to Livingston High School and got a 9-0 sweep.

“Even with a little rain to start off the matches we came ready to play, rain or shine,” said head coach Jackey Blakeley.

Scores were: Boys Singles #1 Wyatt McCune 6-0, 6-0; Girls Singles #1 Mya Beary 6-1, 6-0; Boys Singles #2 Chaz Cisneros 6-1, 6-2; Girls Singles #2 Mikayla Schut 6-0, 6-0. Also, Boys Doubles #1 Jack Fitzgerald and Eli Lattig 6-0, 6-0; Girls Doubles #1 Elizabeth Shelley and Madison Faria 6-0, 6-1; Boys Doubles #2 Evan Shafter and Dylan Criteser 6-1, 6-0; Girls Doubles #2 Madelyn Page and Ella Adams 6-1, 6-0; and Mixed Doubles Kara Kennedy and Trent Berchtold 6-1, 6-0.

On Friday, March 29 the Cougars welcomed rival Riverbank to town and the match did not disappoint.

“One of our biggest matches of the season,” Blakely said. “We won 5-4 with our girls doubles #2 playing a final tiebreaker before our players stormed the court! This was one of the biggest highlights for the first part of season; we are a very blessed team.”

The competition was back and forth, with the Cougar and Bruin teams doing battle throughout the afternoon.

Taking wins for Escalon were Beary and Schut at girls singles, Beary winning 6-2, 6-0 and Schut winning 6-0, 6-2. Boys number one doubles Fitzgerald and Lattig crafted a 6-0, 6-1 win with boys number two doubles Shafter and Criteser winning 6-3, 6-2.

Losses came at both boys singles, mixed doubles and girls number one doubles to knot the teams at 4-4. The final win for Escalon, giving them the 5-4 edge, came from girls number two doubles Page and Adams, winning 6-4, 6-7, Tiebreaker 10-5.

The Cougars were slated to host Millennium on Tuesday, April 2 and will host Ripon on Friday, April 5. Both matches are scheduled for a 3:30 p.m. start.

“Ripon will be a good challenge for us, it is also, already the start of the second half of the season. Second time playing Ripon, this time home court advantage,” noted Blakely. “We are undefeated right now in league, currently leaving us at number one, we could not have asked for a better first half of the season.”