Last week, the DAL-Foothill (DAL-F) division singles and doubles tournament ended with the Acalanes duo of #1 Sze Ting Chen and #2 Nick Owens finishing as runners up. The winners automatically secure a spot in the NCS singles/doubles championships, so the Campo team of Kiumars Koopah/Daniel Schpolanski advanced in division 1. Because Chen/Owens did so well in the DAL-F tournament and throughout the season, it made sense for me to enter them into the division 2 NCS event as an “at large” team. Acalanes is the only team in the DAL-F league categorized as division 2. Why is because Acalanes has 1,250 students, and the cutoff for division 1 is 1,260. The request was granted and Chen/Owens were one of sixteen teams competing for the North Coast Section (NCS) Division 2 Doubles Championship. They were also the sole representative of the DAL-F league and Acalanes.
On the morning of day one (Friday, May 9) of the tournament, all coaches with teams in the event met to determine the seeds and then create the draw. After reviewing the tennis resumes of Chen and Owens, an overwhelming majority of the coaches voted for them to be the top seed. Later that day, Chen/Owens defeated two unseeded teams in straight sets advancing them to the semifinals to be held Saturday. In the first round, they defeated Charlie Vaziri/Grant Dullea of Justin-Siena 6-2, 6-2. In the quarterfinals, they beat Oliver Crowley/Matthew Mozzotta of Albany High 6-2, 6-4. The top four seeds made it the semifinals.
On Saturday, #1 Chen/Owens dispatched of #4 Greydon Ting/Harrison Sade of Head Royce 6-2, 6-3 setting up a showdown in the finals between the top two seeds. The bottom of the draw had #2 Rex Rutchik/William Young of Marin Academy defeating #3 Saahil Mishra/Caden Lee of Lick-Wilmerding 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
In the finals, Chen/Owens had a rough start. It seemed what was at stake for the winner was distracting from focusing on the actual tennis. Some nervous playing and unforced errors resulted in the first set being lost quickly 1-6. After a short meeting, the Acalanes boys reset and settled into their games and staged an impressive comeback. They began stringing together holds and breaks of serve. They ran off with the second set 6-1 playing some of the best tennis I’ve seen from them as a team. They then jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the final set. After giving up one more game, they closed out the match 6-2, and with that they became the NCS doubles champions.
Not only did they win this for Acalanes and the other teams in the DAL-F league, no one can ever take this title away from them as student-athletes. Both players had good and bad moments, but they took turns holding each other up. And when they were both on, Rex and William were simply outplayed. And I credit the Marin Academy partners for throwing everything they had at us.
Even though this is my 24th year coaching high school tennis, I learned something new about the coaching-player partnership today. Smarter coaches probably figured this out a long time ago. I have always shifted attention and credit to the players. It has always been my view that they are the ones competing for each point, grinding through emotions and sweat, and dealing with the mental and physical requirements of matches like this. And they are, however, I believe it was important today that they had a coach in their corner for support, guidance, insight and just helping them reset. We really did this as a team. Saying I’m proud of Sze Ting and Nick doesn’t cover it. But as I congratulate them on this title, I also thank them for rewarding me with a first NCS title as a coach. I am forever grateful to them both and will never forget this day. I’ll make sure the banner gets hung on the wall in the school gym, so future classes don’t forget it too.
This coming week will conclude our season, and the last event is the NCS team championships – the seeds and draw were released earlier today. Acalanes is seeded #4 but must travel to #13 Albany this Tuesday, as they won their league. After the first round, the higher seed hosts for the rest of the tournament. To see the full draw and all seeded teams, open this link.
2025 NCS Boys Team Tennis Brackets.xlsx – Google Sheets
To see the full results of the NCS Div 2 Doubles Championships, open this link.
2025 Boys NCS Individual Tennis Brackets.xlsx – Google Sheets
To change the subject, I also want to take this opportunity to congratulate the varsity boy’s tennis individual award winners. Coach Peter, the team captains, and I discuss the candidates and who we think should win.
Most Improved Player – Saaj Shah (junior)
Coach’s Award – Nick Owens (senior)
Co-Most Valuable Player – Dylan Rocca (senior)
Co-Most Valuable Player – Blake Marshall (junior)
Go Dons! Coach Rick
