Cate senior Michael Revord takes a volley at the net during a doubles set in Wednesday’s CIF match. Revord and doubles partner Christian Herman won two of three sets. (Presidio Sports Photos)
Cate’s advantage in doubles and Redlands’ dominance in singles made for an exciting CIF Division 4 boys tennis semifinal match on Wednesday.
Redlands was able to hold off the Rams for an 11-7 victory at Cate.
“Our doubles lineup did what it was supposed to,” said Cate coach Bob Bonning, who has led his team to the semifinals two straight years. “But their singles lineup was a lot stronger than I had expected.”
In singles, Kevin Ha was able to pull away from the Redlands’ Bonlouie Angelos 6-4 in the first round to tie up the match at 3-3. Jason Xiao later took down Angelos 6-2 in the third round, the second and last singles victory of the day for the Rams.
“I think we played some good tennis,” said Xiao. “They just had a very solid team all around, but there was no lack of effort on our part. We tried our hardest, and this is how it turned out.”
Cate went 5-4 in the doubles department, and came out on the short end of two tie-breakers in the first and third rounds. Brendan Lokre and Jack Hoover were undefeated on the day, while the combination of Michael Revord and Christian Herman went 2-1.
Cate freshman Kevin Ha won his opening set on Wednesday.
This season-ending match marks an especially tough defeat for the Cate seniors, their last time playing in an Rams jersey.
“I’m proud of the way our team played this year as they send me off as a senior player,” said departing senior Johnowen Lowe. “It was a great bonding season and we have a lot of young kids on the team. I think today they showed great potential for years to come.”
Midway through the match, the doubles teams had wrapped up their sets for the second round and only two pivotal, side-by-side singles matches remained. The match score was 6-4 in favor of the Terriers, thus putting extraordinary pressure on the two matchups of Kevin Ha vs. Brysl Libao and Patrick Chapero vs. Jason Xiao. The crowd gathered to watch as Redlands’ Brysl, after being down 4-3, was able to battle back with his powerful forehand and consistent finesse to defeat Ha by a score of 6-4. Not long after, Chapero advanced the Terriers into the third round with a 6-3 win over Xiao, giving Redlands a marginal lead of 8-4. They eventually went on to secure the match in the third set.
Cate finished the year with a record of 16-6 while Redlands advances to the CIF championship on Friday at the Claremont Club.
“We won (the championship) in 2004 and I have had the luxury of being there a few times so I know what it takes,” said Redlands head coach Sean Comadena. “The energy I saw out her today was phenomenal, these are the type of matches that you dream about. I think our boys are ready.”
