Falcons up for tennis title
by Jason Stone

CCUSD – Cactus Shadows has never won a state championship in boys tennis, but the Falcons took a big step in that direction when it advanced to the 4A‑Division II team state championship match this week.

The No. 1‑seeded Falcons beat fourth‑seed Arcadia 5‑2 May 1 in the semifinals and played region‑foe Notre Dame for the championship May 2. Results of the championship match will be available in next week’s Desert Advocate.

Singles wins by Brian Dales, Todd MacIntyre and Taylor Gyde, plus doubles victories for the teams of Anderson/Dales and Reese/Gevlin gave Cactus Shadows the points it needed to advance to the finals at Glendale’s Paseo Racquet Center.

“When I started coaching here (six years ago), the boys had never even had a winning season,” coach Robert Dice said. “The kids are feeling pretty good today. It’s looking good for us so far.”

The mostly young Falcons lost only one team match all year and entered the 16‑team tournament last week as the favorite. If Cactus Shadows ended up winning state, it would mark the school’s third state championship this year–the most in one sports season–and the first ever for a Falcons boys team.

The Falcons swept Notre Dame 9‑0 on March 30.

In the 4A‑Division II singles tournament, which was played separately from the team tournament, Cactus Shadows finished second and third as Kevin Anderson beat teammate Dales 7‑5, 6‑4 in the semifinals April 29 at Paseo Racquet Center.

Anderson ultimately lost in the championship match to Arcadia’s Daniel Plasencia, but Dales beat Notre Dame’s Chris Rock in the third‑place match 6‑1, 7‑6.