The last boys’ varsity tennis event for the divisions 1 and 2 singles and doubles competition concluded on Saturday. This, of course, was the North Coast Section (NCS) Championships. Acalanes sent the only DAL-Foothills league representative, Sze Ting Chen, who was unanimously voted by the tournament head coaches to be the #1 singles seed. The event took place at Marin Tennis Club in San Rafael, and the weather and facility conditions were perfect. With longtime rival, #2 seeded Lucas Smolko of Piedmont, on the other side of the draw, the collision course looked inevitable. Both players were at least 2.0 UTR rating points ahead of the rest of the players. Because the Fort Bragg player was a no show, Chen received a bye into the second round. He easily dispatched Alex Sae from Sonoma Academy 6-3, 6-2 which advanced him to the semifinals. Next up was #4 seeded Kingston Vora from Lick-Wilmerding. Again, Chen won easily 6-1, 6-0. Though the scores indicate easy victories, even Chen will admit his first serve percentage was low and his unforced errors were uncharacteristically high. His first two opponents didn’t have the seasoning and toolset to take advantage of it, but unfortunately Smolko did. Lukas played extremely well and pushed Chen to play flawless tennis. In the end, Smolko came out ahead 6-4, 6-3. I’m as proud today as I was of Sze Ting before the tournament started as he deserved top billing, had an incredible singles season, and put up a good fight while being a gentleman on the court. He is the most talented player I’ve ever coached. No one wins every match, and Smolko had to earn it because Chen is never an easy out. Sze Ting also won Acalanes another banner, which our athletic director will hang in the gymnasium.
NCS Championships – Finals Matches:
Division 1 singles: #1 Casra Asharipour (Redwood) def #2 Rishi Palle (San Ramon Valley) 7-6, 3-0 retired (cramping)
Division 1 doubles: #2 Dash Parkinson-Lubold/Gavin Jia (Amador Valley) def #1 RJ Kuo/Eli Linn (SF University) 7-6, 6-2
Division 2 singles: #2 Lucas Smolko (Piedmont) def #1 Sze Ting Chen (Acalanes) 6-4, 6-3
Division 2 doubles: #4 Oliver Liao/Marcello Sachelari (Bishop O’Dowd) def #2 William Young/Jack Withers (Marin Academy) 7-6, 4-6, 6-4
The DAL-Foothills League announced its league award winners as follows:
First Team Singles: Sze Ting Chen (Acalanes), Daniel Shpolanski (Campo), Linus Wirstrom (Campo), Raunav Agarwal (Miramonte), Riley Byrne (Miramonte) and Raihan Lele (Northgate)
First Team Doubles: Blake Marshall/Cameron Fisher (Acalanes), Charles Richtenburg/Jonny Antman (Miramonte), Nikko Choi/Vadim Golovin (Northgate)
Second Team Singles: Sze You Chen (Acalanes), Brady Adams (Campo), Michael Conway (Miramonte), Elias Mojadidi (Northgate), Dimitri Bazulin (Northgate), Nick Timokhin (Northgate)
Second Team Doubles: Oscar Oehlschlager/Cade Williamson (Campo), Austin Redmond/Alexander Chen (Miramonte), Ozan Kavlak/Quinn Walsh (Northgate)
Honorable Mention: Saaj Shah (Acalanes), Finn Lindsey-Renton (Campo), Blake Park (Miramonte), Nico Keep (Northgate)
Acalanes Individual Award Winners
Most Valuable Player – Sze Ting Chen
Most Improved Player – Cameron Fisher
Coach’s Award – Kyle Shin
The Acalanes Athletics and Activities (AAA) event took place on May 6. This is the lightest year I’ve seen for the signups of incoming freshmen next year. I do want to thank Nolan Roberts, Rhett Brewer and Sze Ting Chen for coming out and manning the boy’s tennis booth with Coach Gary and me.
2026 NCS Boys Team Tennis Brackets – Google Sheets
This week, the North Coast Section Team Championships event kicks off. Acalanes is ranked #11 and plays #6 Northgate away in the first round on Tuesday at 5:00PM. To see the full draw, click on the link directly above. If the team keeps winning, we will play on Thursday and then the semis and finals on Saturday. It is single elimination, so if we lose, the season ends. As usual, we hope our extended team – our wonderful family members – can come out Tuesday to support us. Go Dons. Coach Rick
