Trojans tennis drops razor-thin loss to Coral Academy of Las Vegas

The Pahrump Valley High School tennis team has been putting in an ample amount of work over the past few weeks as they’ve had four competitive league matches since Sept. 12.

Over the past weekend, the Trojans traveled to Coral Academy of Science Las Vegas, where they dropped a nail-biter to the Falcons by score of 10-8.

As the girls went on to win their match by forfeit, the boys unfortunately were beaten 8-10 by an overall good 3A Southern League opponent.

A little fatigued from playing four matches in less than a week, the boys matches came down to the wire as the Trojans were led by Lucas Johnson, who won all three of his singles matches.

“I think they were tired out from a hard-fought match the day prior against the Adelson School,” head coach Michael Dela Rosa said.

Sophomore Jace Eichner wasn’t very far behind Johnson, finishing the day with two singles match wins.

Senior Sonny Skinner also was able to pick up a set victory in his singles matches.

The doubles teams remained strong for the Trojans as Bryce Dykstra and Juan Carlos Rodriguez-Ortiz were able to pull out a win as well as doubles pair Ethan Johnson and Nick Watson.

The team had a major scare last week against Adelson when boys doubles sophomore Ethan Johnson sustained an ankle injury that appeared to be severe during the second set.

Thankfully, and to the relief of Dela Rosa and the rest of the Trojans, Johnson returned to action the following day after aggressively rehabilitating his ankle.

“By the grace of God and us performing RICE (rest, ice, compression, and elevation), he was able to rejoin and help us out against Coral Academy,” Dela Rosa said.

The Trojans (4-3, 4-1 3A Southern League) currently sit in second place in the conference behind rival Boulder City High School.

Senior Lucas Johnson has been lethal this season as his only loss has come from former two-time state champion Ido Goren from Adelson.

If the boys can win their crucial last match of the season against Boulder City Thursday at 3 p.m., the Trojans will be in position to host one home match during the 3A Southern League playoffs, which are set to begin on October 6.

“I’m blessed to have them continuing to work hard at their sport even with a lot of student activities they are involved in,” Dela Rosa said. “We have to keep practicing and working on honing our skills but I am very excited for the playoffs.”

Contact Jacob Powers at jpowers@pvtimes.com. Follow @jaypowers__ on X.