Cate School’s boys tennis team was edged out of the CIF Division 4 playoffs on Wednesday in a 9-9 match that Santiago clinched with a 77-75 advantage in games.
Santiago advances to Friday’s CIF Championship round at the Claremont Club.
Cate reached the semifinals as an unseeded team following a regular season in which it finished second in the Condor League. The Rams (11-9) were up against Santiago, a team with a 16-0 record coming into the match.
Cate took a 4-2 lead after the first round only to see Santiago rally to even it up at 6-6 after two rounds.
“The final score could not have been any closer, nor the match any more competitive through three rounds of play,” reported Rams head coach Bob Bonning.
Abhay Singh with Michael Revord teamed in doubles to sweep three sets for Cate. The Rams got two points from singles player Jason Xiao and from the doubles team of Brendan Lokre and Michael Nettesheim.
