2003 regional qualifiers, ranked freshman give boys tennis team high hopes
Last year, the South Tahoe High boys only sent three players to the regional tennis tournament. That won’t do this season.
The Vikings envision sending their entire team to regionals and who can doubt them? Ten members from last year’s 4-5 season are back and one of the newcomers is ranked 100th in California for his age group.
“We’ve got a lot more depth this year and I don’t see any reason if they play to their potential that we can’t reach their goal,” said second-year coach Kyle Horvath.
Senior singles player Jason Schmedes and doubles team Marcale Jones (senior) and Jaime Moore (junior) were the Vikings regional qualifiers a year ago.
“Our goal is to make the team regionals and send two singles and two doubles representatives,” said Horvath, who returns 10 players. “If these kids play to their potential, they are going to have a good season.”
Besides the 2003 regional qualifiers, the Vikings return sophomore singles standout Nathan Garofalos. Garofalos is 198th in the United States Tennis Association’s Northern California boys 16 rankings.
South Tahoe’s third singles player has yet to play a set of high school tennis, but he should be handful for anyone who plays him. Freshman Jimmy Roberts is ranked 100th by the USTA in California.
“Jimmy adds a lot of depth to our singles team, which was lacking last year,” Horvath said. “He’s playing in quite a few tournaments and winning a lot of them.”
Doubles should also be a strength for the Vikings since most of the players are familiar with each other’s games.
“Most of them have been playing together all summer, so they are going to be that much together,” Horvath said.
Besides Moore and Marcale, juniors Clayton Cole and Greg Gaskin bring experience to the courts.
South Tahoe opens it season today at Spanish Springs and will play host to Reno on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
2004 STHS boys’ tennis schedule
Date Opponent
Aug. 31 At Spanish Springs
Sept. 2 RENO
Sept. 7 At North Valleys
Sept. 14 HUG
Sept. 16 SPARKS
Sept. 21 At North Tahoe
Sept. 28 CARSON
Sept. 29 At Wooster
Sept. 30 At Douglas
Oct. 9 Regional tourney
Oct. 21 State tourney
All matches at 3:30 p.m. Home matches are in ALL CAPS
Support Local Journalism
Support Local Journalism
Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.
Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.
Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.