Santa Barbara closed out the regular season with huge confidence boost before the CIF playoffs.
The Dons defeated CIF Division 1 fourth-ranked Harvard Westlake in a non-league boys tennis match. The teams tied 9-9 sets, but Santa Barbara prevailed on total games, 87-74.
“This is the best win of the season for Santa Barbara,” first-year coach Greg Tebbe said. “The match was neck and neck the entire way as it was tied 3-3 after the first round and 6-6 after the second round. The match was a marathon as there were close sets in every round and the match did not finish until 6:30 p.m.
“Our coaching staff (Larry Mousouris, Tim Trigueiro and myself) knew from the start that there was a good chance this match could end up tied so we emphasized the importance of fighting for every single point, regardless of the set score. Harvard-Westlake has no weaknesses in their lineup, so every set was a battle.”
Sammer Aziz won two sets in singles and Chris Grant-Logan Liddell went 3-0 in doubles. They handed Harvard-Westlake’s No. 1 team its first loss of the season.
Morgan Hale-Jack Damen had a good day, going 2-1.
Nico Pollero played in his first match for the Dons in over a month after recovering from an injury and he teamed up in doubles with Cooper Matthieson to win a critical point in the second round.
“The pivotal match of the day was in singles as Mitchell Kuhn upset Harvard-Westlake’s No. 1, Jackson Frons, by a score of 7-5 which allowed us to close out the second round tied 6-6,” said Tebbe. “If Mitchell had lost that match, we would have been down 5-7 going into the third round which would have been an extremely difficult spot for us.”
Next up for Santa Barbara (18-3) is the Ojai tournament, which starts Thursday. Next week is the Channel League individual tournament.
Santa Barbara 9, Harvard Westlake 9 (Santa Barbara wins on games 87-74)
Santa Barbara
Singles:
Graham Maassen 0-3
Mitchell Kuhn 1-2
Sammer Aziz 2-1
Doubles:
Chris Grant / Logan Liddell 3-0
Morgan Hale / Jack Damen 2-1
Nico Pollero / Cooper Matthieson 1-1
Cooper Matthieson / Jeremy Kirchhoff 0-1
Harvard-Westlake
Singles:
Jackson Frons 1-2
Jeffrey Bu 3-0
Dylan Eisner 0-1
Sam Hummell 2-0
Doubles:
Matt Wagner / Harrison Kalt 2-1
Adam Williams / Walter Wang 0-2
Walter Wang / Henry Noonan 0-1
Max Rothman / Roy Murdock 1-2
