Central defeats Holtville

The Central Union High boys’ tennis team finished the halfway point of its season with a 16-2 win against Holtville High on Tuesday afternoon in Holtville.

The matches represented the first face-off of the year between brothers Dan Williams and Ben Williams, who coach Central and Holtville, respectively.

“I got to get a lot of guys that normally don’t play a chance to play, and they all played very well,” Dan Williams said of his Spartans.

In singles play, Central’s No. 3 player Nathan Vasquez swept his opponents, beating Holville’s No. 1 player George McClure 6-3, defeating No. 2 Alan Piñuelas 6-1, and finishing off No. 3 Jacob Merten 6-1.

McClure also fell to Central’s David Armenta 1-6 and Ramon Ortega 4-6. Piñuelas defeated Central’s David Cruz 6-0 before falling to Alfonso Topete 0-6.

Merten beat Central’s Edgar Martinez 6-1 before losing to Topete 4-6.

“Most of our team’s only been playing for two months, so any experience we get has helped us improve every match, and I’m happy about that,” Ben Williams said of his Vikings.

“Most of our team is made of freshman and sophomores, and this is our first year of restarting the program,” he said. “So we’re just kind of building a base.”

In doubles play, Holtville was forced to forfeit its No. 3 team matches due to spring break.

The No. 1 Vikings team of Martin Espinoza/Marko Lopez lost to Central’s No. 1 team of Jose Lopez/Ramses Valenzuela (2-6), as well as to No. 2 Brendan Beltran/Dohyun Kim (3-6) and No. 3 Ernie Gutierrez/Ian Virey (4-6).

Meanwhile, the No. 2 Holtville team of Esteban Llamas/Chris Garcia lost to Central’s Sid Ocegueda/Mario Adame (2-6), as well as to Seuyong Lee/Alonso Holguin (0-6) and Phillip Corona/Cesar Chavez (1-6).

“Guys are working really hard,” Dan Williams said of his Spartans. “We’ll just see how we do in the second half of the season.”

Central (4-3, 3-2 IVL) will host Calexico at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday while Holtville (0-5 IVL) will visit the Bulldogs April 18.