Laguna Blanca made it two-for-two in early-season matches, taking a 15-3 victory over Cabrillo High School in Lompoc today.

The win was bolstered by three 6-0 sets from Ryan Purkait at the #2 singles position. Purkait, a junior who spent the majority of the last two seasons at #1 doubles, is now 6-0 on the season as a singles player.

Senior captains Kai Nakamura and Kevin Khodabandehlou each went 2-0 on the day, with Nakamura holding down the #1 singles position and Khodabandehlou partnering with junior Nic Richmond to go 2-0 as well.

In doubles, #3 pairing Ben Rodgers and Aden Meisel won their matches 6-3, 7-5, 6-0 to move to 5-1 on the season together. Owen Pryor also swept, taking a first set win with John-Henry Schulz before partnering with George Nicks for W’s in the second and third round-of-play.

Finally, Rodrick Zhu and Peter Smith shared the #3 singles position, with Zhu going 1-1 before Smith subbed in to take a 6-0 victory in the final round.

Coach Thorpe’s Comments:

The guys continue to impress me with their level so early in the season. We’ve got a lot of young talent and some strong senior leadership. Like in our first match, the matches that were competitive pretty much all went our way, and that’s something you like to see as a coach.

Ryan has been just utterly dominant so far in singles and I’m really pleased with the way our sophomore/freshman combo Ben and Aden are doing. They had a tight final set and come through in the clutch; I love it when the young guys meet the challenge head-on and are willing to take some risks with poach moves and going for the second serve a bit.

What’s next for the Owls?

Laguna returns home for matches on Tuesday and Friday next week, with Dunn first up and Orcutt Academy to follow. Orcutt will be the first opponent the Owls face who they registered a loss against in 2019, so that match will be a good opportunity to assess the progress made since last season.