Troy shows a lot of strength in rout

FULLERTON - No. 7 Troy received sweeps from its Nos. 1 and 3 singles players and No. 3 doubles team as it defeated No. 4 Northwood, 13-5, in a boys nonleague tennis match Wednesday at Troy High.

The Warriors improved to 3-0; Northwood fell to 3-1.

"The margin was definitely surprising," Warriors coach Ryan Young said. "Northwood is a great program. I think the kids had something to prove today. We talked about getting after it early."

Troy was in front, 5-1, after Round 1 thanks to a sweep in doubles. The Warriors were led by the No. 1 team of Adam Chaffee and Daniel Young, who beat Northwood's Eugene Kang and Parker Jung, 7-5.

The Warriors' No. 3 team of Andrew Yu-Chih and Greg Paik won all three of their sets, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6. Troy won seven of nine as a team.

"Troy is a good team," Timberwolves coach Eric Keith said. "They have two good singles players and their doubles is just solid. There's no dropoff. For us, it's what do we learn from it. We might play them in CIF."

Senior Justin Thompson and freshman Caryl Hernandez swept at singles for Troy. Hernandez trailed Junya Yoshida, 3-5, before rallying for the 7-6 victory. Hernandez won his other sets, 6-2, 6-4. Thompson swept 6-3, 6-2, 6-0.

"I think everyone did their part," Thompson said. "It was a good team effort. We took things pretty well at the start."

Hernandez was playing in his second high school match. He said once he got behind against Yoshida he focused on staying positive.

"I love competing," he said. "I didn't think I was going to lose. I was fighting for every point out there."

Young said he was eager to see how his team stacked up with the Timberwolves. He played out scenarios in his head before the match, but didn't have any that had his team winning by eight sets.

"Starting the match 5-1 I couldn't ask for a better start," Young said. "They were ready to play. We didn't give them anything today. They were going to have to beat us."

Contact the writer: ctobolski@ocregister.com