GIRLS TENNIS: Milpitas Cruises Past Cupertino

With the departure of a handful of key seniors to graduation, headlined by No. 1 singles star Vivian Nguyen, few expected the Milpitas High girls tennis team to be off to a start quite like this.

Fourteen games into the 2011 season, the Milpitas bunch has yet to drop a match.

The Trojans continued their perfect ways with a dominant 7-0 victory over Cupertino High on a toasty Thursday afternoon in Milpitas.

Top singles players Christi Tain, Shuyang Ye and Kristen Buchanon all rolled to straight sets wins for the Trojans.

Tain and Ye each won their bouts without dropping a game, winning 6-0, 6-0. The two singles players faced little resistance on Thursday.

“It’s really exciting to be playing this well as a team,” Tain said. “It’s my first year as captain so I wanted us to play well. Our four freshmen have really helped us out a lot. The new players are most advanced than last year.”

Tain lulled her opponent into mistakes with her precise groundstrokes and deadly slices. The junior also hammered by several aces in the two-set match.

Ye, along with Buchanon, finished up shortly after Tain. The dominant Milpitas singles lineup has only dropped one match all season. Tain, Ye and No. 4 singles player Manasi Aranake all kept their spotless records in tact against Cupertino.

“I’ve never had a start like this since I’ve been here,” Milpitas head coach Dong Pham said about his team’s undefeated start. “This is my fourth year here. When we started this year, we weren’t sure how strong of a team we’d have. These girls are getting more confidence each time they play, which is very good for us.”

Tain and Ye have squared off countless times in practices over the years, but hadn’t faced each other in over a year on the USTA tournament circuit until earlier this month in Fremont.

Tain won the match over her teammate before falling in the next round of the tournament.

“It’s so weird, it makes you nervous to play against your teammate,” Ye said. “You have to play some tough players anytime you play in those tournaments.”

Ye slugged her heavy-handed groundstrokes past her opponent to an easy win—the second against Cupertino this fall.

Coach Pham juggled his doubles lineup around for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division match. The new pairings bonded together nicely, sweeping past the Pioneers in doubles play.

Ivy Nguyen and Stephanie Hong won their No. 1 doubles match, 6-3, 3-6, 10-3. Julia Dinh and Hamani Manawat won their No. 2 doubles bout, 6-2, 7-6.

Milpitas has a bye on Tuesday and will play at Homestead High on Thursday. The Trojans defeated Homestead 5-2 earlier this season.