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It took more than three hours, but by the time the final tennis ball had stopped bouncing Leland's No. 1 doubles team of Craig Banks and Osheen Davoudi had scratched and clawed their way to a 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) victory over Silver Creek. The win came in the semi-finals of the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division tournament.
Leland's No. 2 doubles team of Thomas Norton and Stace Klinger had a much easier time of it, winning their semi-finals match 6-0, 6-2 to set up an all Leland finals.
The only problem was that since the Banks-Davoudi match had taken so long, there was not enough daylight left to play the championship match. In addition, both teams qualified for the Central Coast Section individual tournament since the top three teams from the BVAL tournament move on to the CCS tournament. Therefore, the decision was made not to play the match, and the Banks-Davoudi team was declared the champion by virtue of a forfeit.
Leland will also be represented on the singles side at CCS. Simon Cheng was declared the winner in his semi-final match by default when his opponent was ineligible. Cheng went on to nail down the singles championship with a solid 6-0, 6-4 win over Yerba Buena and secured a spot in the CCS individual tournament.
That means that Leland will have five players participating in the CCS tournament scheduled for May 24-26. Cheng knows what that level of competition is like, having advanced to the doubles finals in 2004.
However, before the Chargers can focus on the individual CCS tourney, they must turn their attention to CCS team play with the hopes of advancing further than last year when Los Gatos knocked them out in the first round. Round one took place on May 4 and will continue with the quarterfinals on May 6. The semi-finals will be held on May 10 and the finals on May 12. The seedings and brackets were undetermined at press time.
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