Santa Barbara High’s 10-8 non-league victory at Peninsula was a stunning one on Wednesday, according to Dons head coach Steve Geremia.
“We practically had every nail in the coffin,” Geremia said of his team’s chances late in the match. “It’s as good a win as I can remember in a long time.”
The No. 2 Dons and the No. 4 Panthers were deadlocked at 8-8 with two matches still playing, one singles and one doubles. Santa Barbara trailed late in each but battled back to win both sets in tiebreakers. Had the Dons lost either one, Peninsula held the advantage in games and would have claimed the victory.
“It was as tight as a high school tennis match could get,” Geremia continued, commending singles player Chase Melton and the doubles team of Dan Diaz and Matt Baum for their clutch wins in the final round.
Melton was critical to the Dons’ success as he claimed three sets without a loss. Santa Barbara’s top doubles team, Jim Vaughan and Chris Williams, also went 3-0.
Peninsula won four sets in singles and four in doubles. Horea Porutiu and Shuhei Shibahara both went 2-1 in singles.
Santa Barbara is 13-1 with two matches left in its regular season. The Dons will travel to Buena on Thursday before Senior Day at home on Friday when they host Dos Pueblos.
SANTA BARBARA 10, PENINSULA 8
SB Singles – Chase Melton 3-0, Nico Poller0 2-1, Sammer Garcia 1-2. P Singles – Horea Porutiu 2-1, Justin Song 0-3, Shuhei Shibahara 2-1
Williams/Vaughan 3-0. Baum/Massen 0-1, Baum/Diaz 1-1, Chris Grant/Liddell 1-2. P Doubles – Chris Dalton / Tong 1-2, Lawrence Huang/Yasuto Miyawaki 2-1, Jake Hoeger/Richard Yan 1-2.
