– Photo Courtesy / Aaron Valdez, Beacon Media News
By Aaron Valdez
Even with not having a head coach this season, the athletes of Monrovia boys’ tennis continue to march forward, hoping to perfect their craft in the sport they most enjoy.
As the program continues its search for a much-needed leader, Monrovia’s athletic director Randall Bell is filling as interim coach for the team. Despite the losing record and lack of expert direction, the players have competed vigorously throughout the season.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, they fell to a 0-9 record after losing to San Marino in their seventh league game on Monday. Going into the match, the Titans sported an unblemished 8-0 record in league play and also had an overall record of 10-2-1.
In Monday’s singles action, Mattias Fraser had an off day as he dropped all three of his matches 0-6, 0-6, 1-6, while Keenan McKelvey fared slightly better, losing 1-6, 1-6, 0-6. Ethan Ko put together Monrovia’s best performance as he was victorious 6-3 in one of his matches but came up short on the other two.
Monrovia dropped all nine of its doubles matches. The duo of Tyler Bernardino and Aiden McKelvey came the closet to taking a set, but ultimately lost by a narrow 6-7 margin.
The Wildcats will look to close out their 2018 campaign on a high note as they take on South Pasadena on Friday.
