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This past weekend, Freedom High School hosted its sixth annual Boys JV Invitational tennis tournament, welcoming seven other schools, including local competitor Deer Valley.

Freedom fielded two teams in the event, and the A Team played well, bowing out to top-seeded Monta Vista in the semifinals. Still, the school's athletic director and head tennis coach Steve Amaro maintains that the true value of the tournament isn't measured in wins and losses, but in player development.

To my knowledge, this is the only JV tennis tournament in Northern California, said Amaro. There is definitely a need there and we're happy to host. It's not all about winning the whole thing; it's about giving the players a chance to try new things and learn what works and what doesn't work so that they can be successful as varsity players.

Monta Vista and Piedmont, two of the top tennis programs in the section, joined Merrill West to round out the field and provide some stiff competition, as well as an example to the rest of the competitors of how to get it done at the highest level.

Monta Vista and Piedmont are two of the best teams in the section, said Amaro. They showed the rest of the players and teams here what they have to do to play at that level.

The Falcons got a great performance from the doubles team of McAuley Buhlis and Vincent Sandoval, whom Amaro felt adapted tactics on the fly better than any tandem in the tournament. Buhlis, a junior, and Sandoval, a freshman, mixed their approach as the situation dictated sometimes rushing the net together and sometimes retreating to the baseline together.

Freedom sophomore Tyler Foster treated the fans to one of the tournament's most exciting games, coming back from a 6-3 deficit against Heritage's Jackson Bahns in B Team action. The two know each other's game well after attending Freedom tennis camp together, and Foster was able to take five consecutive points to knock off Bahns 8-6.

Our A Team finished fourth, and I'm very happy with the way both our teams played, Amaro said in assessment of his JVs. I thought the semifinal game verse Monta Vista was the best match they've played all season.

The Heritage and Deer Valley teams played well, and Heritage impressed Amaro with its depth, fielding two highly competitive squads for the event.

Although participation in this year's tournament was the smallest in six years (eight teams representing six schools), Amaro sees the event as an unqualified success. He attributes the dip in participation this year (last year's event featured 14 teams) to the tournament coinciding with so many schools' spring breaks, making it difficult for teams to gather all their players for the event. He expects a full field of 14 to 16 teams for next year's tournament.