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Turlock tennis bests Pitman in crosstown matchup
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Turlock’s Peter Wilson had one of the strongest showings in the crosstown matchup against Pitman by winning his match in straight sets on Thursday (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

Turlock High boys tennis was able to beat their crosstown rival Pitman, 8-1, on Thursday in Central California Athletic League action. The teams battled the heat to get through a tough competition with strong players on both sides.

“Playing against the crosstown rival is always exciting,” said Turlock head coach Gary Harris. “Most of the guys have friends that go to Pitman, so I was a little nervous how that will affect our guys. Turlock came out ready to play and we played with intensity. It was a hot day so we had to play smart, our shot selection was great.”

All six of Turlock’s singles competitors came away with victories: Peter Wilson (6-2, 6-2), Joe Chan (6-3, 6-2), Luke Joseph (6-3, 6-2), Richard Wang (3-6, 6-4, 12-10), Tyler Kelley (6-4, 7-6) and Erik Peterson (6-0, 6-1).

Pitman’s Felix Ngo and Simon Hayes won their doubles match (3-6, 6-3, 10-8). Turlock ‘s Hayden Elliot and Gabriel Sorisho (6-4, 1-6, 11-9), and Paul Saed and Jesse Gomez (6-4, 7-6) won their matches.

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Alex Medina and Pitman won one match, despite being in multiple close faceoffs (CANDY PADILLA/The Journal).

“The results look lopsided but it was actually a well-played tough match,” said Pitman head coach Jeff Hayes. “We lost four out of five tie breakers, but all the matches were competitive.”

Turlock has a record of 2-1 in league play and Pitman is 0-2. Pitman finished with a record of 14-4 last year while Turlock finished with a record of 12-5. To continue having success this year for Turlock it will start at practice.

“The team will continue to succeed if we practice hard,” said Harris. “I have an amazing group of intelligent student athletes. They are coachable and eager to learn. They make my job as a first-year head coach easy. I’m also excited to learn from Coach Belew; he’s a respected veteran coach and I am very grateful for him.”