GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) - It has been a month since the Gridley High School tennis team took five matches to tiebreaks from Oroville.

The Bulldogs lost all five. In the rematch April 19, Gridley hoped to turn some of those losses into wins. It was not to be.

As much as the Bulldogs have improved, it was Oroville that showed even more improvement, using a greater variety of serves to consistently put the Tigers in positions to take advantage of weak Bulldog returns. Unlike the March 24 meet, the final score of 9-0 was exactly as it appeared.

Gridley senior Taylor Johnson was the only singles player to fare better, 2-6, 5-7, compared to his showing against Oroville freshman Noushe Yang a month earlier. In doubles, Gridley sophomore Ryan Woolery and junior Cole Leishman fared similarly to their earlier performance with a narrow loss to sophomore See Xae Yang and Noushe Yang. Sophomore Eric Ramirez and freshman Cesar Ortiz improved from a 3-8 loss a month ago to a 6-8 loss to Oroville sophomore Sky Vang and sophomore Ethan Thao.

Gridley coach Bob Moffitt took the blame for his team’s disappointing showing.

“We improved in a lot of areas, but it is obvious that Oroville added more skills than we did,” Moffitt said. “I had a long conversation with coach (Mark) Coleman after the meet. He was very generous with sharing what he had instituted in Oroville. I have to say all of the coaches have been truly great about helping anyone who asks in order to grow the sport. Rest assured that our boys will work hard in the next few days to catch up.”

With its 4-3 finish in Butte View League play, Gridley has qualified for the regional and league championship tournaments. The Bulldogs will go to Orland for the regional and to Las Plumas for the league event.

Any businesses or individuals who would like to help Gridley make improvements to its facilities can contact Moffitt via email at [email protected]. The school needs new tennis net cranks, a sunshade so players don’t have to look into the sun when serving, a functioning ball machine and lumber to repair the coach’s bench.