Xavier Prep tennis star Axel Alverdin is only a sophomore and he now has two Desert Empire League individual titles after Wednesday’s victory at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
Alverdin, did not drop a set all tournament and defeated La Quinta’s Lucas Nettimi 6-1, 6-1 in the final.
Getting the back-to-back wins was one of Alverdin’s goals heading into the season.
“Yeah, it feels good, I don’t think anybody’s gone back to back on the boys side in a while, and it was definitely one of my goals for the year,” Alverdin said. “I had confidence going into it, but this definitely helps build confidence going to CIF and tournaments coming up.”
Alverdin wanted to thanks all of his coaches for being there for him throughout the year and he’s ready to go on a run in the CIF-SS individual tournament.
“Last year I made the quarterfinals, but I feel more confident this year, because, well I’m a better player than a year ago, so we’ll see,” he said.
The doubles final was a Palm Desert vs. Palm Desert affair and it was the duo of twins Ryan and Connor Vuilleumier who blitzed to the title. They didn’t even drop a game all tournament until the final which they won 6-0, 6-2 over fellow Aztecs Yatharth Mahajan and Maxon Gilmore.
Is it tricky going against teammates in the championship match?
“No not really, because we play against them all the time and we always win. Every, single, time,” said Connor with a laugh as Mahajan and Gilmore were standing right next to him.
“Yeah, but you said you weren’t going to lose a game the whole tournament, but we won two games off you,” Mahajan said.
So, as you can tell, it was a fun day all around for the Palm Desert doubles teams, who both qualify for CIF-SS. Needling aside, Connor and Ryan said it did mean a lot to claim the DEL title.
“Feels amazing, I’ve been wanting DEL title for three years now and we weren’t able to pull it off as freshmen and sophomores, but finally we did it, and we’re happy,” Connor said.
“It’s always fun to play against these guys and the fact that we all advance to CIF-SS individuals is sort of a win-win for everybody, but, yeah, this DEL title is something we’ve wanted for a while,” Ryan said.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: DEL tennis finals: Xavier star repeats and Palm Desert twins win doubles
Reporting by Shad Powers, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
