On April 25 and 26, the Diablo Athletic League (DAL) Foothill Division held its season-ending singles and doubles tournament.  The winners move on to the NCS Championships on May 3 and 4.  Thursday (Apr 25) was at Northgate where we completed the first three rounds, while Friday was at College Park where we wrapped up the semis and finals.  When the tournament started, all 17 Acalanes players were in the draw; five played singles and then six doubles teams.  The Dons players had some early success, but when the first day finished, it was #4 seeded Nick Owens left in singles and #4 seeded Tucker Brewer and Ace Reeder alive in the doubles.  In fact, all top four seeded players in both singles and doubles made it to the semis.  The strongest player record-wise, Lucca Zamani of Miramonte, was unable to commit to the full DAL/NCS/Nor Cal tournament path, so he decided not to play in the tournament.

The singles draw consisted of 30 players.  Acalanes had two seeded players, #4 Owens and #5 Eagens.  Both held up their seeds by making it to the quarterfinals.  Unfortunately, they ended up playing each other, and Owens won that match advancing to the semis.  Eagens score two victories getting to the quarters.  He beat Mooradian (Campolindo) 8-0 and then Collins (Northgate) 8-3.  It was a great showing for the freshman’s first time in the DAL tournament.  Shah also made it to the quarters beating Meer (College Park) 8-0 and then upsetting the #8 seed Culler (Las Lomas) 9-8 (0).  For those two wins, he was awarded a quarterfinal match against #1 seeded Koopah (Campolindo).  Though he lost that match 6-2, 6-1, it was a respectable showing overall.  Hoeberechts played singles and defeated Casamiquela (Las Lomas) 8-3 in the first round but came up just short of upsetting #6 seed Alford (Campolindo) losing 9-7.  It was an even and very physical match, and after Kaya admitted his fuel gauge warning light came on towards the end.  This was junior Rocca’s first time at the DAL tournament and he played a competitive match against Schultz (Northgate) in the first round but was defeated 8-3.

Acalanes also celebrated some nice wins by its doubles teams.  21 total teams entered the event.  Brewer and Reeder were seeded #4, and as stated above, they advanced to the semis.  Because they were seeded, they did not have to play a feed-in match; however, Lofting and Foster did.  Lofting/Foster defeated Berg/Mishkin (Miramonte) in the first round 8-6.  Unfortunately, it meant they played Tucker and Ace in the second round.  Brewer/Reeder defeated Lofting/Foster 8-3.  They then went on in the quarters to beat #5 seeded Martin/Kapur (Campolindo) 7-6 (5), 6-4.  Tantameng/Marshall had a good win over Khorram/Vyas (Las Lomas) 8-6, then ran headfirst into the #2 seeds Dikhit/Azarkhish (College Park) who defeated them 6-2, 6-1.  Patterson/Finlay won a round as well routing Alhakem/Rosti (Northgate) 8-2.  They then almost upset the #3 seeds Pastore/Wirstom but went down in a close 6-4, 7-5 contest.  Finally, Todi and Shin had a tight match in the first round against Sinnreich/Sandoval (Miramonte) losing 8-6.  It was Vedant and Kyle’s first time at the DAL tournament – a great experience for them both.

Day 2 started with some bad news as #3 seeded Lee (Northgate) had to withdraw from the tournament in order to attend his senior ball.  This put his teammate #2 seeded freshman Lele (Northgate) into the finals.  The other side of the draw was #1 Koopah (Campolindo) playing our own #4 Owens.  The conditions were tough.  The gusty wind meant both players had to adjust significantly.  In this match, Kuimars simply handled the conditions better.  Though there were a lot of great points and Nick did put up a fight, in the end, Koopah won 6-2, 6-3.  He went on in the finals to defeat Lele 7-6 (1), 6-3.  Koopah will represent the DAL in the NCS championships.

In the doubles, #1 seeded Dille/Elias (Miramonte) – last year’s DAL doubles champions – defeated Acalanes’ Brewer/Reeder 6-4, 6-4.  On the other side of the draw, #2 seeded Dikhit/Azarkhish (College Park) defeated #3 seeds Pastore/Wirstrom 6-4, 6-3.  In the finals, it was the #2 seeds who beat the #1 seeds in a mild upset.  With a tight 4-6, 6-4, 11-9 victory, Dikhit/Azarkhish will represent the DAL in the NCS championships.  To determine the third place duo, the losers in the semis played each other.  In that match, Brewer/Reeder defeated Pastore/Wirstrom 4-6, 6-2, 10-6. Both doubles teams had family members and coaches supporting them. After Tucker and Ace lost the first set, they simply turned up the heat. It was a fun match to watch. Great serving, strategy, poaching, down the line winners and sportsmanship. At the conclusion of the tournament, Coach Peter and I told the boys how proud we were of them as they represented Acalanes respectfully, competitively and with class.  We were the only team in the DAL to ultimately have a representative on both the singles and doubles podiums.  My plan is to sign all three of our semi-finalists up for the NCS singles and doubles championships as “at large” entries.  We will know by May 2 if they make it into that tournament.  More to come in future articles.  Go Dons!  Coach Rick