But the Los Gatos High School tennis team didn't mind the long drive home from Folsom near Sacramento on May 22—not after the Wildcats edged Saratoga High 4-3 to win the Northern California high school championship.

The title match pitted the two local teams—Los Gatos, champions of the Central Coast Section Division I, and Saratoga, champs of the CCS Division II—at the Gold River Racquet Club in Folsom. And it was a Los Gatos sweep in doubles competition that helped the Wildcats net the crown.

It was senior leadership that sparked the Cats to the team win. Senior Jon Teel won at No. 2 singles, then the Cats won three straight in doubles action with seniors Chase Huebner and James Lok, Lee Gerston and Tin Tran and Drew Froehlich and Greg Thaler all teaming for victories.

Teel was leading 2-1 in the first set at No. 2 singles when Saratoga's Kevin Kaiser suffered an injury and was forced to retire from the match.

Huebner and Lok combined for a tight 6-1, 7-6 (8-6) win over Brent Fong and Scott Juang at No. 1 doubles and Foehlich and Thaler nailed a close 7-5, 7-5 win over David Lee and Jeff Hathaway at No. 3 doubles.

Gerston and Tran posted a convincing 6-0, 6-1 win over Albert Chiang and Jason Daniel at No. 2 to complete the doubles sweep for the Cats.

Saratoga dominated in singles play with A.J. Kerin, Jeff Gast and Ravi Raghavan each claiming victories.

Kerin outlasted Brian Brogan of Los Gatos 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles and Gast bat Patrick Brogan 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3. Raghavan beat Matt Solomon 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4. Gast, a freshman, completed an undefeated season for the Falcons.

The Wildcats, who lost a 4-3 heartbreaker to Menlo in the NorCal finals a year ago, opened the tournament with a 5-2 win over Monte Vista of Danville and beat Davis 5-2 in the semifinals to get the title match against the Falcons.

Saratoga had opened the tourney with a 7-0 win over Lowell, then blanked Mission San Jose to move into the finals.

In the win over Lowell, Kerin went three sets to win 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, but the rest of the Falcons won their matches in straight sets to complete the team sweep.

Gast posted a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 singles, Raghavan won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 3 and Justin Dev won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 4.

Fong and Juang cruised to a 6-2, 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles, Chiang and Danile won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 2 and Lee and Hathaway won 6-2, 6-4 at No. 3.

Los Gatos and Saratoga had split their two matches in the De Anza Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League before going on to win their respective CCS championships.

Saratoga coach Kevin White led the Falcons to a 20-3 season record that included a CCS Division II championship.

The Falcons clinched the section crown with a 6-1 win over five-time defending champion Menlo School in the finals. It marked the first CCS tennis title for Saratoga.

Kerin cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles to start the Falcons on the road to the victory.

Kaiser was a 6-0, 6-0 winner at No. 2 singles, Gast won 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3 and Raghavan won 7-5, 6-3.

Kerin will now advance to the CCS singles championships set for May 25­27 at the Imperial Courts in Aptos. Kerin, seeded No. 4, was to open against Thien Le of Silver Creek with the winner to face the winner of the match between Chase Clifton of Monterey and Aaron Klapper of Leland. That winner moves on to the semifinals on May 27 on the same courts.

Filling out the singles field will be No. 1 seed Philip Kao of Mitty along with No. 2 Jay Wong of Mitty, No. 3 Ken Kao of Monta Vista, Shaun Herry of Aptos, Bijan Hijazi of Cupertino, Scott Blumenkranz of Menlo, Aaron Elbert of Homestead, Kurt Chong of Branham, Taylor Matsumoto of York and Alistair David of Half Moon Bay.

Doubles play will be held at the same time on the Imperial Courts. Making up the doubles field will be Nic Amaroli and Connor Feeny of St. Ignatius, Brandt Bates and Nolan Paul of Robert Louis Stevenson, Donald James and Ronald Wu of Bellarmine, Sean Hemmer and Phil Mohl of Salinas, Gerston and Huebner Los Gatos, Andrew Villamil and Alex Calciano of Monte Vista Christian, Gaspar Lio and Kelly Kyauk of South San Francisco and Jeremy Heckley and Joe Heckley of Del Mar.