BCHS Tennis Dominates in SSL

German+Mejia+prepares+for+his+match.

James Buddell

German Mejia prepares for his match.

BAKERSFIELD — The Bakersfield Christian Eagles varsity and JV tennis teams beat Taft by identical 7-2 scores Wednesday. For all intents and purposes, that assured that BCHS will go undefeated in league and win another SSL title, in the school’s last year in the league. Taft’s varsity is in second place with Wasco a game behind with one more match between them in Taft on Monday. The rest of the league is far behind. Taft’s JV won the first match with BCHS so will share the league title, assuming both teams beat Arvin.

In the varsity match, BCHS’s top five players were too much. Eric Buetow, who finished fourth in the Valley last year, beat Enrique Reyes, 6-2, 6-2. Lukas Grimberg, a 6-foot-4 leftie from Austria, beat Rodolfo Magana, 6-0, 6-1. Caleb Bloemhof avenged an earlier league loss to Sawyer Maier, 7-6 (7-1), 6-0. Marcell Tanus’s powerful groundstrokes were too much for Tyler Nguyen, 6-2, 6-1, and the same with Max Sun in his win over Brian Rivera, 6-3, 6-3.

Taft earned its two points with its bottom three players. At No. 6 singles, Jose Ramirez avenged an earlier league loss by beating Noah Pitcher, 6-2, 6-1.

In the closest match of the day, at No. 3 doubles, Bryson Ginn and Antonio Guzman beat Jimmy Ritchie and Alex Heer, 6-4, 6-4.

With the match won, BCHS kept its top four players in doubles and won the top two. Buetow and Grimberg beat Reyes and Magana, 6-1, 6-2. And, Bloemhof and Tanus beat Maier and Nguyen, 6-0, 6-1.

Taft’s varsity dropped to 11-6; 4-2 in the SSL with eight league games left before playoffs. Taft plays Chavez, Wasco, Arvin, Kennedy, McFarland twice and Shafter twice before hosting the SSL individual finals April 24 and 25.