Friday was a long day on the tennis court for SBCC freshmen Miles Seemann and Joshua Crisp-Jones but they persevered and captured their doubles opener in the State Championships at the Balboa Tennis Club in San Diego.
Seemann/Crisp-Jones, seeded No. 4 in the South, started their Round of 16 doubles after 7 p.m. They outlasted James Kong-Ramon Martinez of Foothill 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (0).
“It came down to our mentality and our energy level at the end,” said coach Ryan Heinberg. “We were perfect (7-0) in the tiebreaker.”
The SBCC duo had to play their quarterfinal match on Friday night, starting at 10 p.m. They were battling the No. 1 seed from the South, Parker Kelley and Josh Banks of College of the Desert. Kelley-Banks beat Seemann/Crisp-Jones in a 3-set semifinal at last week’s So Cal Regional.
Seemann, who captured the Regional title last Saturday, was the fifth seed from the South in singles. He swept past Sam Bertram of Fresno City 6-0, 6-2 before falling to Alex Johnson of Foothill 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. Johnson was the top seed from the North.
“Miles had the No. 1 seed quite nervous,” said Heinberg. “He did a great job of combating Johnson’s power game.”
Crisp-Jones, a freshman from England, was seeded fourth in the South. He dropped a three-setter to Tobias Galskov of Foothill (#5 North) 6-1, 2-6, 6-2 in the Round of 16.
