Late last week, members of the Woodland High School co-ed varsity tennis team finished in second place during the Golden Empire League Championship tournament, going 7-3.

With the finish at this past Wednesday’s tournament hosted at Woodland High School, the entire team qualified for the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs with the first matchup set for Wednesday, May 7, at Bear River.

“It’s very rewarding for us to be recognized by our community and the greater Sacramento area that tennis in Woodland is improving,” Woodland High School head tennis coach Javier Marin said. “This is attributed to the offseason training, a strong senior presence on the team, and the sheer number of players we had this year, being the first year as a co-ed program.

“I also attribute a lot of our success to on-campus coaches Celia Amato, a 2017 Woodland High School graduate, and long-term teacher and assistant coach Brad Johnson.”

Individually, singles player Owen Harrisson and the doubles team of Alexander Gonzlaes and Cody Raubach also qualified for the CIF Sac-Joquin Section singles and doubles tournament set for May 20 and 21 at Oak Park Tennis Center in Stockton.

“To see how the program has grown and changed is really special to me,” Harrison said. “I’m looking forward to competing. Tennis is such a fun game, and I’m really excited to be able to play and show my abilities.”This year marked the first time the program adopted a co-ed system, where scoring is based on two boys’ singles matches, two girls’ singles matches, two boys’ doubles matches, two girls’ doubles matches, and a co-ed mixed team.

As a team, the Wolves finished the year with a 7-3 record and a second-place finish in the GEL, qualifying the team for the CIF playoffs —a feat that had not been accomplished since 2012.

Highlights this season include 34 student athletes coming out for the team and going undefeated in a match against an undefeated El Camino squad earlier this month.

Individual highlights include senior Owen Harrison finishing second in the entire GEL in boys singles, ending a 13-year drought of a tennis player from Woodland High School finishing in the top 2. Gonzlaes and Raubach finished in second place in the league as boys’ doubles, returning to the playoffs after a trip last year.