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Courtside wins four NorCal titles
Moreton, Kawahara each come up winners in Sacramento
By Dick Sparrer
It took some clutch performances for the Courtside Tennis Club to win four division championships at the Northern California USTA junior team tennis playoffs in Sacramento.
It took Patrick Brogan's come-from-behind victory at No. 4 singles in the boys 12's; it took the three-set wins posted by Caroline Stege and Diane Tseng in the girls 15's; and it took the doubles win that backed up singles triumphs for Amanda Wise and Audrey Wingo in the girls 18's.
But because of those clutch performances, and a near sweep in the boys 18's, Courtside will send four teams to Southern California this weekend to compete for state championships.
The Courtside boys 18's and 12's and girls 18's and 15's will compete for the Gar Glenny Cup Aug. 26-27 at UCLA.
Courtside will be a big part of the NorCal effort, with four teams competing in the six divisions.
Courtside, though, played for all six of those division championships at the Rio Del Oro and Natomas Racquet Club in Sacramento earlier this month, winning four of the titles.
Bastian Bartels of Monta Vista, Steven Golod of Menlo and Ashvin Soin of Saratoga sparked Courtside to a lopsided 5-1 win over Alpine Hills in the boys 18's division.
Bartels rolled to an easy 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles to start Courtside on the road to the victory over Alpine Hills. Golod won 7-6, 6-3 at No. 2 and Soin won easily 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3.
Vikrum Kumar of Harbor was a 6-2, 6-3 winner at No. 5 singles and Chad Cochran of Valley Christian won 6-1, 6-3 at No. 6.
Because of the dominating performance in singles play, there was no need for the doubles competition.
It was the same story in the girls 15's, with Courtside winning five of six singles decisions to eliminate the need for the doubles matches in a 5-1 win over Auburn Racquet. Alicia Hull of Los Gatos opened with a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 1 singles and Emily Chen of Leland won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 2. Katrina Lebedeva of Los Gatos followed with a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles.
Stege, who will attend Los Gatos in the fall, and Tseng then came through with their three-set wins to clinch the team victory for Courtside. Stege won 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 at No. 4 singles and Tseng won 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 at No. 5.
Brogan, of Los Gatos, came through with the big win at No. 4 singles to help Courtside take the title in the boys 12's. He pulled out a come-from-behind 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles to help the locals to a 6-3 win over Alpine Hills.
Ron Huang of Almaden nailed a 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 1 singles and Kurt Chong of San Jose won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2 to start Courtside on the road to the team win. Mathew Soloman of Los Gatos chipped in with a 6-4, 6-0 win at No. 6 singles.
Huang teamed with P.J. Boskovich of San Jose for a 7-5, 6-1 win at No. 1 doubles and Chong and Solomon joined forces for a 6-1, 6-0 win at No. 2.
Wise and Wingo sparked the girls 18's to a 6-3 win over Silicon Valley in the championship match. Wise, of Saratoga, won 6-3, 6-0 at No. 3 singles and Wingo, of Harbor, won 6-0, 6-1 at No. 4. The two also teamed for a 6-3, 6-1 win at No. 2 doubles.
Laura Boskovich of St. Francis won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 1 singles and Kathy Fawcett of Harbor won 6-1, 6-2 at No. 5.
It marked the sixth straight title for Courtside in girls 18's play.
The title match in the boys 15's went down to a tiebreaker in the last set before Courtside lost a 5-4 heartbreaker to Misson Hills.
Andy Hong and Kevin Lam of Mission Hills outlasted Mike Wu and Derek Rungsea of Courtside 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8) at No. 3 doubles to claim the crucial win in the match.
Wu and Rungsea had each won in singles play. Wu beat Atol Bhatia 6-4, 7-6 (5) at No. 4 singles and Rungsea defeated Hong 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5.
Chuck Moreton of Bellarmine and Ted Hull of Los Gatos combined for a 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 2 doubles, but both lost in three sets in singles play.
Anita Athavale of Los Gatos and Sami Kawahara of Willow Glen were the only Courtside winners in a 7-2 loss to Alpine Hills in the girls 12's.
Courtside was swept in doubles play in the division.
Junior Fall Classic
The Bartels brothers, Benjamin and Bastian, each won titles at the Alpine Hills Junior Fall Classic in Portola Valley in early August. Benjamin Bartels knocked off Kevin Casey of Mt. Shasta 6-0, 6-2 to take the boys 18's singles title, and Bastian Bartels edged Dan Duong of Sunnyvale 6-4, 6-3 to win the boys 16's crown.
Laura Boskovich of San Jose ended up third in the girls 18's, beating Michelle Phalen of Santa Cruz 6-1, 6-1 in her last match. Boskovich had fallen 6-2, 6-4 to Alex Ann Bawden of Fairfield in the semifinals. Bawden went on to win the title.
Boskovich was a member of the winning doubles team in the division.
Willow Glen's Megan Kawahara competed in the girls 16's division at the Junior Fall Classic.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
