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A rainy, short day on Tuesday made for a very long day on Thursday for the tennis finalists in the Central Coast Section Individual Tournament at Imperial Courts in Aptos. For three local players, however, three rounds in one day was all worth it by the end of the day.
Menlo-Atherton senior Alec Haley came away with the section singles championship, his first, while the tandem of Menlo junior Andrew Carlisle and sophomore Justin Chan defended its doubles championship.
Rain washed out the quarterfinals on Tuesday, forcing three rounds to be played Thursday. It was not easy for any of the winners. Shortly after beginning the quarterfinals at 10 a.m., more rain came and delayed matches for three hours.
Haley, the No. 3 seed, finally began the day with a tough 5-7, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 victory over unseeded Ted Truong of Leland. That three-hour match earned Haley a berth in the semifinals against No. 2-seeded Rajeev Herekar of Gunn. Haley took care of business again with a 6-2, 6-2 triumph to avenge Herekar’s win over Haley in last year’s opening round.
In the finals, Haley went up against No. 1 seed Matt Roberts of Branham. The Menlo-Atherton veteran hung tough once again and posted a 6-1, 6-1 triumph to make the long day worthwhile as he became the first M-A player to win a CCS crown. The title match finished shortly after 7 p.m.
Chan and Carlisle also had a busy day, which started with a 6-4, 6-2 win over brothers Ben and Mason Vierra of R.L. Stevenson. Also advancing to the semifinals was Palo Alto’s Drew Pearson and Peter Tseng, who produced a 6-0, 6-0 win over Burlingame’s Palmer Mendelson and Eric Chaney.
Things got tougher in the semifinals for both teams. Chan and Carlisle battled back for a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 triumph over Anthony Tsodikov and Steven Galerkin of St. Ignatius, while Tseng and Pearson upset the No. 2 team of Garrett Taylor and Jack Schoebel of Bellarmine, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
The two local teams then advanced to the championship match, where the defending champs handed Pearson and Tseng a 6-0, 6-3 defeat.
For Carlisle and Chan, their performance finished off a perfect season. They helped the Knights win the National Invitational title, the Central Coast Section team crown and NorCal championship, in addition to finishing 27-0 in dual matches.
The doubles triumph was just the icing on the cake.
Badminton
Palo Alto sophomore Karine Hsu won a pair of matches to successfully defend her girls’ singles title at the CCS Championships at Monta Vista High in Cupertino on Thursday.
Hsu won her semifinal, 15-0, 15-0, and came back with a 15-0, 15-1 triumph in the finals.
Gunn won the girls’ doubles crown as the top-seeded squad of Catherine Wu and Linda Zhang registered a 17-14, 15-13 victory in the title match. The tandem finished second two seasons ago when both players were freshmen. They lost only once this season.
In the boys’ doubles, Gunn’s No. 1-seeded Martin Hung and Henry Liu captured the section title with a 15-12, 17-14 victory while the Titans’ top-seeded tandem of Stanley Hung and Phoebe Lin won the mixed doubles crown with a 15-13, 15-9 triumph.
— Palo Alto Online Sports
— Palo Alto Online Sports
— Palo Alto Online Sports