APTOS >> Soquel High tennis talent Hudson Ward has battled injuries over the past three seasons. Currently, he’s dealing with shin splints.

But Wednesday at Imperial Courts Tennis Club, he put the hurt on the ball.

Despite his slender frame, the Knights’ junior, seemingly, left a vapor trail on his first service and ripped his powerful forehand for winners to sink Che Castro on Santa Cruz 6-4, 6-3 in the singles final at the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League Individual Championships.

With his victory, the Knights (10-0), winner of the SCCAL team title for first time in school history, earned a complete sweep of banners.

“Honestly, I didn’t get my expectations too high,” Ward said. “It’s not a good month for me — just a lot of injuries. But, I pushed through.”

Minutes before Ward secured victory, Knights teammates Benja Bellito and Torin Miller put the hurt on their opponents. Literally. They pulled away for a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Jeremy Arulanantham and Sammy Lambert of Santa Cruz in the doubles final.

One of Bellito’s shots struck Lambert in the chest in the first set, leading to a 5-minute stoppage in play. When the match resumed, Arulanantham and Lambert weren’t the same formidable opponent. Following the injury stoppage, Bellito and Miller didn’t lose a game.

Now, the Knights take their game to the next level. They’ll compete in the first round of the Central Coast Section Team Tournament on May 7 at 4 p.m. Their opponent and match location are TBA.

Ward advances to the CCS Singles Tournament, which begins May 20, and Bellito and Miller advance to the CCS Doubles Tournament, which begins on May 21. The semifinals and finals for both tournaments are May 22. The locals have home-court advantage, but against stiffer competition, as both tournaments will also be held at Imperial Courts.

“This is the first year we’ve won it as a team, and I think that legacy will live on for a little bit, hopefully forever,” Ward said. “We’re definitely excited to go on to CCS. We’re going to keep practicing, for sure, and hopefully we get through a couple of rounds.”

Ward, a three-star recruit on tennisrecruiting.net who trained last summer in Europe, competed in his first SCCAL Tournament. He missed substantial time each of the past two seasons. He nearly cut off two fingers in a wood shop injury as a freshman and suffered a back injury as a sophomore.

He was dominant in SCCAL play, including a pair of wins over Castro, and didn’t lose game in his first two league tournament matches.

As good as his first service and forehand shots were, he served and volleyed well, made his way to the net when the opportunity presented itself, and, once there, was lethal with a stunning array of drop shots.

Castro was well-versed with Ward’s game and countered it with a big serve and solid footwork. He chased down balls well and rallied with confidence. The opponents engaged in several crowd pleasing rallies.

“I played good,” Castro said. “I played kind of a defensive, grindy match. It was intense. I tried to hit deep spinning balls because he likes to hit really flat. I was trying to throw off his tempo and get him to make errors.”

Ward and Castro held service for the first nine games, but Ward broke service to clinch the first set, 6-4.

It was pretty much more of the same in the second set. But Ward finally earned a service break to go up 5-3 and he held service with a dominant final game to claim the set and match.

“I thought he played very well today; good competitor,” said Ward, of Castro. “Good kid. Very fair, which I appreciated.”

While the singles final featured two new faces, each doubles team featured some returning talent.

Bellito was in the final for a third time, a testament to his skill and steady play. He placed second as a freshman and won the title as a sophomore.

Arulanantham made the doubles final last season with his since-graduated brother, Julian, and placed second.

The Knights trailed 4-2 in the first set when Bellito unintentionally struck his opponent with the ball and he and Miller won the next 10 games to seal the match win.

“We played good a team and we played good together and that’s what counts,” Bellito said.

Arulanantham said he and Lambert were a little more tentative after the injury timeout, which proved to be a massive momentum shift.

“As you get down 2-0 in the second set, the games start to pile on and it kinda just slipped away,” Arulanantham said.

The Knights’ duo said they have no expectations for CCS, which is probably a beneficial mindset considering they know little about their next opponents.

“We’re just out there to have fun,” Miller said.