Tennis is the most underrated sport at Pitman High School. Little does anyone know that for the past seven years, Pitman tennis has been the league champion six times, and out of those six times they have been undefeated five times. This repeated success has been made possible by Coach Hayes and the talented Pitman tennis squad.
For the past four years, Michael Davis has been the number one singles player and has greatly contributed to Pitman’s success. I was able to ask him about his success over these past years and he said, “I’m not familiar with the word lose.” This is a very confident statement to back up his accomplishments. I was also able to catch up with the number four singles player Brach Malek. Malek is a senior and will be graduating shortly, I asked him how much the sport of tennis means to him and he said, “Tennis over money”. Clearly tennis is a very significant part of his life because many others would disagree with this statement.
This year’s junior class has also been essential in allowing Pitman tennis to go undefeated yet again this year. The first doubles team, Jessie Inacio (junior) and Julio Loza (senior), have contributed immensely as well. I asked Jessie Inacio about how he feels playing on the court. He said, “I put my heart into my matches, like I do with my woman”. As you can see he plays tennis with great emotion, which definitely correlates to success on the court. Both juniors and the second doubles team, Marques Cardiel and Christian Vega, also have had a great season. I asked Marques Cardiel about their success over this season, and he said “It’s not hard for us to win; it’s harder for us to lose.” This statement sums up the type of year Pitman tennis has had.
This amount of success should not go unnoticed and hopefully Pitman can continue this success for the years to come.