Camarillo clinches PVL championship
Tennis team playing with tremendous chemistry
By Thomas Gase tgase@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers PATH TO PERFECTION- Camarillo High senior Joey Elkins focuses on the ball as he prepares to send it back to his Rio Mesa opponent during Tuesday's match at ACHS. With their second victory over the Spartans this season, Camarillo (15-3 overall, 10-0 in league) claimed the PVL title.

Before Nathan Inouye began his second year as the head coach of the Camarillo High boys' tennis team, he decided he would have to make a few changes.

Although the coach was hesitant at first, Inouye made practices more intense and inserted new drills he thought would help strengthen the Scorpions' play.

Well, it worked.

With a 16-2 win over Rio Mesa Tuesday, ACHS improved to 153 overall and 100 in the Pacific View League. The win against RMHS clinched the league championship for the Scorpions, their first in two years.

"The players weren't the only ones that had to mature; I had to mature as a coach as well," Inouye said. "In order to do that, I ran more drills and did more analyzing than I did last year. I also tried to give each player a goal for the day- something to help them improve."

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers SEND IT BACK- Camarillo High senior Greg Punsalan hits a forehand return during Tuesday's match against Rio Mesa.

Players such as junior Connor Karen appreciated the workouts and said it gave the team the confidence they needed.

"We weren't overconfident, but winning league is something we expected to do," Karen said. "Compared to other teams in the league, we didn't lose that many seniors from last season, so we knew we would be good."

Senior Dylan Burstein said it felt great to win a league championship in his final year at Camarillo but agreed with Karen that the title wasn't a surprise.

"I felt sort of relieved, to tell you the truth," Burstein said.

"Last year we had a lot of injuries, and for whatever reason a lot of players lost motivation. This season, with a lot of seniors that had been playing tennis together for a while, we really wanted to finish on top."

Karen said the team began to feel more confident early in the year when they defeated Rio Mesa, 14-4.

"Our first match against Rio Mesa we realized just how good we were," Karen said. "Rio Mesa was known to be a team we had problems with, and we basically beat them pretty easily."

One of the reasons Camarillo has coasted this season has been the play of its top two singles players, Karen and senior Greg Punsalan.

"The singles play on this team really helps us because it gives us something to rely on," Punsalan said. "I thought (Karen) and I improved this year but not as much as the team as a whole."

While the singles play has been stellar for Camarillo, it's the squad's improved doubles play as well as the team's freshmen that have been the biggest difference. During the league-clinching win against Rio Mesa, the Scorpions swept all of their doubles matches.

Two freshmen, Justin Anderson and Tanner Marczuk, have been big contributors.

"We have outstanding freshmen this year," senior co-captain Joey Elkins said.

"Coming into my final year, I didn't expect this much help from our newcomers. I play doubles with Marczuk, and at first I was really nervous playing with him, but now it's like I've been playing doubles with him my whole life."

Karen said another reason the team is doing well is its chemistry.

"At first, the freshmen were a little cocky, but I got over it," Karen said with a laugh.

"I know I was cocky my first year, so I couldn't really say anything. But we're all friends, everyone gets along real well and it's made for a real fun high school year for me."

Although Camarillo knows there's still work to be done in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs, Inouye said he's very proud of his team's regular season results.

"I couldn't ask for anything more from this group," Inouye said. "Not only do I have some of the best players in skill, but also some of the best players in character."