Santa Barbara High’s influx of new players gave all head coach Steve Geremia could have asked for on Monday, as the Dons defeated visiting Cate 16-2 in the season opener for both teams.
“We had five guys start today that never really started for Santa Barbara before,” Geremia said.
Nico Pollero swept three sets and freshman Graham Maasen won two sets at 6-2, 6-2. The doubles team of Chris Grant and Logan Liddell went 3-0 in their first start together while Adrian Hufford teamed with veteran Chris Williams to win two sets.
Graham Maasen
Blake Mackall
Chris Grant
Logan Liddell
Chase Melton
Mark Mullan
Rohit Goswamy
“We had a pretty good start considering we didn’t have our best players available for that match,” Geremia said. “The players who stepped in and took those spots came in and did some pretty good stuff.”
Blake Mackall won a tiebreaker in singles for Cate and the doubles team of Cam Seo/Jason Park won the Rams’ other set.
Pending the weather, both teams play again on Wednesday. The Rams face another Channel League school in Dos Pueblos while Santa Barbara is set to host Laguna Beach.
SANTA BARBARA 16, CATE 2
SB Singles – Pollero 3-0, Diaz 1-1, Maasen 2-0, Kerns 1-0, Kirchoff 1-0. Cate Singles – Mackall 1-1, Goswamy 0-3, Lokre 0-3, Smith 0-1.
SB Doubles – Melton/Vaughan 2-0, Chermin/Kuhn 1-0, Williams/Hufford 2-0, Cote/Crevillian 1-0, Grant/Liddell 3-0. Cate Doubles – Mullan/Mak 0-3, Seo/Park 1-2, Lin/Turner 0-3.
