Arcata boys tennis will send three players to Novato today for the North Coast Section singles and doubles championships and the Tigers are hoping to sustain their momentum from the Humboldt-Del Norte Conference singles and doubles championships.

Casey Mansfield, who did not lose a match in H-DNC play this season and defeated Eureka’s No. 1 Kyle Carbis for the H-DNC singles championship on April 12, will be Arcata’s representative in NCS singles.

Last year, Mansfield won his first match at the NCS singles championships before having to face the No. 1 ranked player in Northern California, Alameda’s Eric Ramos, and coming up short.

However, Arcata head coach Morgan Phylis believes Mansfield is capable of defeating any of the players at the championships this year as long as he believes in himself and avoids a slow start.

“Casey’s biggest problem is it takes him a little while to get going,” Phylis said. “That won’t work here because you can’t come back from a double-game deficit against these guys. He needs to come out firing and have a really high first-serve percentage.”

In doubles, Arcata will send Edward Hunter and Dunn Ratnitisakul to Novato.

Between them, they only lost one match this season, with Ratnitisakul winning the No. 4 H-DNC singles championship and Hunter’s only loss coming in the No. 3 H-DNC singles final against Ferndale’s Trevor Nezvold.

Phylis said Hunter and Ratnitisakul will need to avoid making mistakes while attacking in order to have success.

“They need to know they’re good enough to be on the same court as these kids,” Phylis said. “They’re going to have to start off pretty strong and not give away free points.”

The singles and doubles championships will be held at the Meridian Rolling Hills Tennis Club in Novato, as well as at Novato High School, and will start at 10 a.m.