In a redemption match, the Pierce College tennis team was once again defeated by Glendale College at home on Thursday, March 12.
Pierce came away with a 5-4 loss and wasn’t able to ride the momentum of its last victory.
“These guys are hungry to try to get a different result at home,” said head coach Rajeev Datt. “They battled, but they just came up short. Today we had a much more defined strategy on how to play these guys.”
In the previous loss to Glendale, only one Pierce player won his singles match, freshman Manish Kumar. Kumar is the top-ranked player on the team, and won his match again on Thursday. He is undefeated in singles matches, with a record of 9-0.
Kumar used anything to his advantage, including the wind speed.
“I knew it was going to be windy this afternoon, so my strategy was to play with the wind,” Kumar said.
Kumar’s singles match against Glendale’s Hosep Orojian was longer than the other matches and Kumar said that was no accident.
“That’s my game style, I’m a counter-puncher,” Kumar said. “My strategy was just to be myself, to play as I like to, and just keep pushing them back.”
Team captain Jason Sturdivant said that strategy was part of the team’s overall approach and credited Kumar as one of his strongest players.
“For singles, we play to our strengths and we exploit our opponents’ weaknesses,” Sturdivant said. “Manish, that’s his strategy. He wears them out. He wears them out until they’re gritty.”
In the second set between Kumar and Orojian, Orojian made allegations of cheating when one of his shots was called outside the line.
“It was inside the line. He’s calling it out because it’s breakpoint,” said Orojian during a disagreement with the referee. “This guy, I don’t know who he is. He’s the biggest cheater.”
Kumar continued the match without confrontation.
“What I’ve been told, since I’m a freshman, is this happens a lot. This usually happens in all the matches,” Kumar said. “I was prepared for it. My coach just told me I’ve got to stay calm, do my thing, and don’t bother with what he’s saying.”
The Brahmas will go on the road and face Bakersfield on Tuesday, March 17 at 2 p.m.
