The Saratoga singles star, who had dominated play all season long, won in straight sets in the first and second rounds of the tourney, then won in three sets in the semifinals to push ahead to the title match against No. 4 seed Steve Benvenuto of Aragon.

But that's where the string snapped for the Saratoga sensation. Leg cramps forced Kaiser out of the tournament and it was Benvenuto winning the crown by injury default.

Still, it was quite a year for Kaiser. The senior won the singles championship at the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tournament, and he helped the Falcons to a co-championship in the SCVAL's rugged De Anza Division.

Kaiser opened the CCS tourney with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Brian Pybas of Salinas, then he made short work of David McCall of Sacred Heart Prep, winning 6-1, 6-2.

Kaiser pulled out a tight 5-7, 6-0, 7-5 win over Max Bradley of Robert Louis Stevenson before he was forced to forfeit his final match.

Benvenuto had advanced to the final with a hard-earned win over No. 2 seed Justin Tzou of Lynbrook, the 10th-ranked boys 18 singles player in the United States Tennis Association's latest Northern California rankings.

After winning his first two matches at the Imperial Courts on May 24, Tzou suffered a 7-6 defeat in the first set against Benvenuto, including a 7-3 tiebreaker, but claimed the second set 6-3 and extended the match. Benvenuto dominated the final set 6-1 and moved into the championship round.

Tzou actually lost his first set of the 16-player, single-elimination tourney to Leland's Simon Cheng. However, after dropping that set 6-4, Tzou rebounded to win 6-4, 6-2. In the second round, Tzou won in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4 over Devon Nerenberg of Half Moon Bay.

The Saratoga doubles team of Scott Juang and Brent Fong also competed at the CCS tourney. The unseeded Falcons opened with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 win over Nick Nguyen and Max Bunag of Mitty, but lost a match later to No. 3 seeded Alex Kaufman and Mark Keegan of Menlo, 5-2, retired.

Follmar 4th at state

It was a disappointing finish to a brilliant high school track and cross country career for Saratoga superstar Alicia Follmar.

Follmar, a two-time state champion in the 1,600-meter run, attempted to double up at last weekend's CIF State Track and Field meet after winning both the 800 and 1,600 at CCS. But the fatigue of running both events on consecutive days caught up with Follmar in Saturday's finals. She finished fourth in her specialty, the 1,600, running 4:55.64, and she was ninth in the 800 in 2:16.02.

Follmar had run 4:52.66 a week earlier to win the 1,600 at CCS and finished at 2:07.79 in the 800. The winning times at state were 4:50.40 by Annie St. Geme of Corona del Mar in the 1,600 and 2:10.39 by Libby Jenke of Menlo in the 800. Jenke had finished second to Follmar at CCS. Follmar's times at the section finals would have placed her first in the 800 and second in the 1,600 at state.

Similarly, if hurdler Yvan Pham of Lynbrook could have repeated his second-place time from the CCS 300-meter championship race, he would have been able to get one more day out of his outstanding senior season. Instead, the fleet Viking was ousted in the preliminary competition at the state meet on June 3 at Hughes Stadium in Sacramento.

Pham, who dashed 38.83 at the CCS meet a week earlier, was more than a second slower (40.24) during one of three heats run last Friday. Pham, who finished sixth in his time trial, needed to be faster than 39.02 to earn one of the nine berths in the 300 final.

Falcons, Vikes honored

Seniors Peter Rutti of Saratoga and Mike Thurman of Lynbrook earned first-team honors when the El Camino Division of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League named its all-league team for 2005.

Lynbrook junior Adam Kahn was named to the second team and picking up spot on the honorable mention list were juniors Aaron Teagle and Geoff Parrish of Lynbrook and junior Scott Newberry and senior Adam Sato of Saratoga.

Mike Barnhart contributed to this story.