The San Marcos boys tennis season came to a close in a heartbreaker in the first round of CIF on Tuesday, as the Royals tied visiting Aliso Niguel in sets, 9-9, but lost on games 81-69.
“We had a great season defeating ranked teams from divisions 1, 2 and 3, and competed well this afternoon but a slow first round really hurt us. We were never really able to dig ourselves out of the hole,” said coach Jarrod Bradley.
Petar Jivkov battled early to keep the Royals close, coming back from down a break at 3-4 to defeat the Wolverines’ number one player Adam Bagdy 7-5.
“Petar really battled today in frustrating conditions,” said Bradley. “He kept his composure and returned aggressively on his opponent’s second serves. Without that huge comeback we would’ve been down 1-5 and the match would have essentially been over.”
Scott Messier and Jackson Mann came back from 2-5 down in their final set to defeat Lee and Le 7-5.
“Down 5-2 in their last set, I told Scott and Jackson to have fun and that we needed this set to stay in the match and they delivered breaking the other team three times in a row while holding their own serve. I’m really proud of Jackson and Scotty for persevering, especially since Jackson was so sick yesterday and today,” said Bradley.
Nik Kilpelainen and Garrett Timmons completed the Royals’ only sweet winning easily at 0,2 and 2.
“Nik and Garrett were just phenomenal today. I’m going to have to find out what they ate and did and make sure they follow the same routine before every match next year,” said Bradley.
The Royals graduate two seniors, Messier and Coffey, while returning six juniors who have started the past two seasons.
“Jacob and Scotty have worked hard on the courts the past four seasons and were a big part of our success. They also get the job done in the classroom posting over 4.0 GPAs and helping the team to a second place academic CIF finish the past two seasons,” said Bradley. “I can’t wait to see what they accomplish in the coming years.”
ALISO NIGUEL 9, SAN MARCOS 9 (H-W wins on games, 81-69)
Singles — AN: Adam Bagdy 2-1, Victor Wu 3-0, Filip Sciensinski 1-2. SM: Petar Jivkov 2-1, Parker Funk 1-2, Jacob Coffey 0-2, Garrett Hazarian 0-1.
Doubles — AN: Andrew Fiene-Sina Sharifi 2-1, Young Lee-Daniel Le 1-2, Austin Siedl-Tim Valles 0-3. SM: Jackson Mann-Scott Messier 2-1, Travis Enholm-Jackson Foster 1-2, Nik Kilpelainen-Garrett Timmons 3-0.
