From Staff Reports
Still getting used to the gig: First-year Hoover Coach Alex
Villasenor admitted Tuesday that his new job hasn't been easy.
"It's getting better now," said Villasenor, who took over the
Tornado boys' and girls' tennis programs after long-time Coach Lynn
Santamaria retired following the 2003 season. "But at the beginning
of the year, it was rough.
"It took me a while to get used to the logistics of coaching.
Things like scheduling, getting rosters together, making sure
everyone is eligible, that's a lot of stuff. I had no idea it would
be that much, but I'm getting better at it."
Villasenor said that during the girls' season, he received some
help from Santamaria.
"I e-mailed her a lot and asked for help," he said. "She did the
job for so long that she was real good with the organizational part
of it."
Thus far, Hoover hasn't won much under Villasenor. The girls' team
-- which just missed the postseason in 2002 and 2001, after making in
2000 -- finished a distant fifth in the Pacific League, and the boys'
team is 0-3, having lost its past two matches by a 35-1 margin.
But Santamaria experienced similar growing pains. Her first year
as boys' coach, the Tornadoes went winless.
Falcons' puzzle missing a single piece: With Stanley Sarapanich's
graduation, Crescenta Valley High boys' tennis Coach Sarah Wiggins is
searching for someone to step up and take on the role of the team's
No. 1 singles player, something that hasn't happened much in the
Falcons' first three matches.
"I just want one ranked singles player," Wiggins said during
Tuesday's 15-3 nonleague loss at San Marino.
"It doesn't have to be someone the level of Stanley, just a good
singles player that will allow me to put my best doubles lineup [on
the court]."
Wiggins experimented with splitting her best doubles team of Eric
Ueo and Ryan Chang and putting them at Nos. 1 and 2 singles, respectively, against San Marino.
Unfortunately, the two athletes combined for one victory in six
singles sets, versus a possible three doubles wins Wiggins thought
they would have earned had they remained together.
With a strong player at No. 1 singles, it would allow Wiggins to
boast a doubles lineup of Chang and Ueo, Ara Boyadjian and Braeden
Carrico, and Joe Hong and Brian Lee, which would be the deepest in
the Pacific League.
That was the benefit of having Sarapanich -- who was last heard to
be in India playing in a tournament -- in the lineup, because it let
Wiggins keep the rest of her athletes in their natural positions.
