The AHWS varsity boys tennis team has a 7-5 record. They are on pace for their best finish in years, with hopes to secure a Marin County Athletic League (MCAL) playoff spot. AWHS is currently looking to break into the top three by the end of the season. 

On Feb. 24, AWHS displayed their perseverance when they started their season with a win over Tam High School in a hard-fought match that lasted two days. Jake Magnusson, an AWHS senior number one singles for the Falcons, had to postpone his match to the following day due to a lack of sunlight. Varsity tennis Coach Jeff Price said this was the first win against Tam since the 1990s and a total team effort. 

“All the guys, especially the doubles group set the stage for two key singles wins in that match. Henry Pratt and Jake Magnusson both turned in key performances that day. Jake’s dramatic two-day match sealed the overall victory,” Price said.

Jake, who has committed to play tennis next year at Lafayette College, boasts an impressive 9-1 record and is ranked as one of the highest in Marin County. His only loss of the season was against Marin Catholic’s Nickawn Namdar in a 6-3, 6-4 match on March 23 at Marin Catholic. Jake is looking forward to MCALs to avenge his loss and win the individual overall title.

“In the individual MCAL tourney I hope to get a rematch against Nickawn and of course to try and win, leaving it all out on the court,” Jake said.

Price was especially impressed with senior Finn Wayland’s performance at the Marin Catholic match where he played at number four singles. 

“He played the number four singles spot exceptionally well but didn’t win the match. He put on a display of sportsmanship that I haven’t seen in at least 10 years…MC’s coaches both felt the same way,” Price said. 

With more than half of the season over, the Falcons have only four remaining matches in the regular season.

“The team’s doing great, so far the second half of the season has been solid. We just wrapped up matches against MC, Tam and Branson. Unfortunately all were losses, but we fought hard and showed overall improvement. I think we’re all settling into our games a lot more,” Jake said. 

Sophomore Johan Jacobs-Frithiof is also looking forward to the second half of the season and the possibility of playing at the MCAL playoffs in late April.  

“Our next three matches should be fairly easy but we don’t want to get too ahead of ourselves because we do have potential to lose as we saw against MC, a match we should have won. Redwood will be tough, losing 6-1 our last match against them was expected but our team has improved a lot since then giving us a better chance,” Johan said. 

The team will need to finish in the top four to play in the MCAL tournament which will require them to win their remaining matches to hold their number four spot.

Two of the remaining four matches for the rest of the regular season will take place this week, one on April 13 against San Marin and the other on April 14 against San Rafael. The last two matches will take place on April 19 against Redwood and on April 21 against Novato, leading up to MCAL playoffs on April 26 and April 28.