Tennis: Westlake gets important Marmonte League victory against 1000 Oaks

The Thousand Oaks boys' tennis team found the going rough against Westlake of Westlake Village on Thursday in a key Marmonte League match without Marcus Giron, the area's No. 1 player.

In an undefeated league showdown, Westlake rode six of nine victories in singles and doubles to come away with an impressive 12-6 victory.

Westlake moved into sole posession of first place but there is plenty of time left in the regular season.

"The boys are very excited because we have been talking about doing this all week and we hadn't beaten them since 2007," Westlake coach Connie Flanderka said.

Zach Drost and Mitch Krems swept their singles sets, only losing a total of five games.

Westlake (8-1, 6-0) took six of nine doubles sets, including important victories from the No. 2 tandem of Harrison Han and Brian Ho and the No. 3 team of Richie Greentree and Adam Kane.

Han and Ho won a tiebreak (8-6) against Thousand Oaks' No. 2 team (Ben Moon and Michael Kunisaki) and Greentree and Kane did the same (7-5).

"Winning the tiebreaks really helped us push along," Flanderka said. "We really fought hard and our depth showed throughout."

Chris Lees and Daniel Minami swept at No. 1 doubles for Thouand Oaks (8-2, 5-1) but it was not enough to overcome the warriors or the abscence of Giron.

"He definitely can make a difference," Flanderka said, referring to Giron. "He will make it closer and I know they will be waiting for us when we play them again."

"It is great to be in a good position, we want to go for the league championship."