With all but one starter in action and fresh off of an unprecedented fifth-consecutive Griggs Cup victory, the Santa Barbara High boys tennis team had all the momentum heading into Tuesday’s 15-3 win over San Marcos.
“We played them when we were pumped up, and it’s easy to be pumped up when you’re winning,” said Dons coach Steve Geremia. “But when you’re not winning and you keep battling for every point it shows who really likes to play tennis. You’ve gotta give San Marcos a lot of credit for going hard on every point.”
Billy Grokenberger and Chase Melton won the doubles bracket at the prestigious Ojai Tournament over the weekend to clinch the Griggs Cup, which has never been won five consecutive times by any other school but Santa Barbara.
“It doesn’t get much better than that if you’re a Santa Barbara Don,” said Geremia.
SANTA BARBARA 15, SAN MARCOS 3
Singles — SB: Billy Grokenberger 2-0, Jim Vaughan 1-0, Matthew Baum 1-0, Matt Demopoulos 1-0, Chase Melton 2-0, Cooper Matheson 1-0. SM: Sean Michael-Gaudefroy 0-3, Nick Kilpelainen 0-2, Travis Enholm 0-1, Harrison Strober 0-3.
Doubles — SB: Spencer Simon-Adrian Huffard 2-0, Tannay Pattani-Geoffrey Hahn 0-1, Chris Williams-Dan Diaz 2-0, Chris Grant-Logan Liddell 0-1, Evan Teuful-Christian Wheeler 2-0, Jordan Marin-Jeremy Kirchhoff 0-1. SM: Jackson Mann-Scott Messier 1-2, Jackson Foster-Parker Funk 1-2, Mario Herrera-Garrett Timmons 1-2.
