The Sunnyvale Sun

Sports

Mustangs shake things up early in CCS tennis

By Greg Lydon

Just over an hour into the 2008 Central Coast Section singles and doubles individual championships at Imperial Courts in Aptos, the Homestead boys tennis team pulled off the upset of the tournament.

Showing they didn't drive that far for nothing, the Mustangs doubles team of Ben Low and Michael Kung shook up the brackets early on in day one, knocking off the No. 1 seeded team of Ishan Bhadkamkar and Shraven Narayen from Gunn.

Low and Kung defeated the Gunn duo 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to move on to round two action.

"Anything can happen in a tournament like this if you play consistent," Homestead coach Louie Alicea said. "Our guys had an opportunity to play against the top seed, and they played very well today."

Low and Kung attacked their taller opponents with low body shots, making things tough for the top seed from the opening point.

The Homestead pair ground out a 7-5 victory in the first set tiebreaker to stun their opponents, taking that momentum into the second set.

"This team beat us twice this year, but not this doubles team," Alicea said. "I wanted them to keep the ball low and they did a great job of that. They're both big guys, so if there's anything up high they will smack it down for a winner."

Low and Kung advanced to round two play later on Tuesday, but the Archbishop Mitty team of Mike Conroy and Devashish Joshi eliminated the Mustangs to advance to Thursday's semifinal round.

The Mitty team didn't have an easy first day, with both matches going three sets, but the Monarchs duo found a way to advance to the second session.

Conroy and Joshi defeated Low and Kung 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 in round two after knocking off the Palo Alto team of David Plotkin and Dan Schwartz 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in round one.

In singles action, Homestead's Sam Ling and Chris Ho entered the draw hoping for a chance at a CCS title.

Continuing an annoying trend for Gunn, another Homestead player sent a Titan home for the summer as Ling defeated Santa Clara Valley Athletic League singles champion Rajeen Herekar 6-1, 6-1 in round one play.

"Rajeen was dealing with a leg injury today," Gunn coach Jim Gorman said. "But he definitely didn't play his best tennis; hats off to the effort from the Homestead player. He took it to him today."

Ho moved on to round two when he defeated Branham's Brooks Baldinger 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

Ho, who was seeded third in the singles bracket, advanced to the semifinals in his next match, defeating Half Moon Bay senior Devon Neurenburg 7-6 (7-3), 6-1.

"Every one of our players has done what we thought they could do," Alicea said. "It's been fun to watch."

While Ling fell in the second round, Ho continued his push toward a singles CCS crown on day two.

Ho, a senior at Homestead, faced much different conditions than he saw on Tuesday, dealing with severe winds through his semifinal match against Serra junior Spencer Talmadge.

"I've never played in conditions like this," Ho said. "There was a lot more slicing and kick serves today because of the wind."

Talmadge, the eventual singles champion, defeated Ho 6-2, 6-4 to move on to the final round of play.

"Spencer served the ball really well today," Ho said. "I had beaten him head-to-head four times in a row before this match. He did a better job of adjusting to the conditions than me."

Talmadge defeated Blumenkranz in three sets to win the CCS singles title.