Jim Vaughan’s second-round tiebreak win was a momentum grabber for the Santa Barbara boys tennis team on Wednesday, setting the Dons off to an 11-7 non-league win over No. 5 Harvard-Westlake on the Dons’ courts.
Vaughan took the tiebreaker 9-7 at the end of the second round and head coach Steve Geremia said it took the wind from the Wolverines sails.
“Once they lost that, they knew they’d be climbing uphill,” Geremia said, knowing the matchups favored the Dons in the final round.
Santa Barbara went on to win the third round 5-1 to turn a 6-6 tie into the 11-7 victory.
The Dons, ranked No. 3 in Division I, weren’t in danger of losing on games in case the match ended 9-9, thanks to the dominating play from singles player Bill Grokenberger and the doubles team of Evan Teufel and Chase Melton. Both Grokenberger and the doubles duo lost a scarce two games each in three sets.
Vaughan won two sets on the day as did freshman Spencer Simon.
Santa Barbara will be in Ojai this weekend defending the Grigg’s Cup, which they’ve won four years running.
SANTA BARBARA 11, HARVARD-WESTLAKE 7
SB Singles – Bill Grokenberger 3-0, Spencer Simon 2-1, Jim Vaughan 2-1. HW Singles – Jeff Bu 2-1, Jackson Frons 0-3, Andrew Berman 0-3.
SB Doubles – Diaz-Wheeler 1-2, Teufel-Melton 3-0, Grant-Demopoulos 1-1, Grant-Huffard 0-1. HW Doubles – Cutler-Martin-Patterson 2-1, Shwartz-Wegner 1-2, Kenny-Kesluk 2-1.
