San Marcos’ boys tennis team defeated visiting Ventura by the slightest of margins on Monday, claiming the Channel League victory in a tiebreaker after the two teams were tied 9-9 after three rounds of play.
The Royals prevailed 79-76 in total games, in large part thanks to the work from the doubles team of Jackson Mann and Scott Messier, which went 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 on the day.
While Ventura’s strong singles lineup, led by Sean Levesque and Michael Lowe, won 8-of-the-9 sets, San Marcos’ Petar Jivkov was able to capture his second round match to give the Royals a slight 7-5 cushion heading into the final round.
“Petar returned well all afternoon and hit his inside-out forehand and cross-court backhand effectively against Jacob to set up easy points. When he’s able to establish himself as the aggressor in the point, he’s much more effective.”
Ventura, which is ranked No. 7 in Division I, evens its league record at 2-2 as does San Marcos, which moves on to play another ranked opponent, No. 3 Santa Barbara, on Thursday.
Rain threatened to get in the way of the match but subsided just in time.
“It started to rain just before the match started but let up quickly and the skies held up for the match. It didn’t look good in the beginning,” Bradley said.
SAN MARCOS 9, VENTURA 9
SM Singles – Petar Jivkov 1-2, Garrett Hazarian 0-3, Parker Funk 0-3. Ventura Singles – Sean Levesque 3-0, Michael Lowe 3-0, Jacob Rucker 2-1.
SM Doubles – Travis Enholm-Jackson Foster 3-0, Jackson Mann-Scott Messier 3-0, Nik Kilpelainen-Garrett Timmons 2-1. V Doubles – Brandon Bushnell-Bobby Oldt 1-2, Parker Harris-Conner Dann 0-3, Eric Moll-Oscar Desario 0-3
