After going 4-2 in pre-season practice matches, the Dons started its 2026 spring league season hosting Campolindo.  With 25 years of coaching behind me, I sometimes think I’ve seen it all, but tonight blew that thought right out the back door.  So much to go over, let’s get into this.

Last year, the Cougars swept us in regular season and won the league.  The Dons took a little revenge with a 6-3 win earlier today.  But the story is more about how we did it.  The first three singles lines were straightforward.  #1 Sze Ting Chen and younger brother #3 Sze You Chen won quickly.  Both ran into a bumpy few games in their matches, but in the end, Sze Ting gave up only four games and Sze You gave up three.  Both played extremely well.  #3 Shah ran into Wirstrom who is UTR-rated 2.5 points higher than Saaj, but Saaj fought hard.  He earned a couple of games in the second set but went down 6-0, 6-2.  Early on it was Acalanes 2, Campo 1.

While the three doubles lines started their matches on the top three courts, #4 Hoeberechts finished a long hard-fought match taking down Kirchner 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.  Similar to his match against Piedmont, Bora needed a set to assess what he had to do to win…and then he won.  Attention then shifted to the matches of #5 Taylor and #6 Fisher.  Both also went the distance as Sammy and Cameron split sets.  Their deciding super tiebreakers were played at the same time.  Cameron finished first, and though he had his chances, Miller edged him 10-8 to win.  Sammy’s match had some of the longest points I’d ever witnessed.  When Sammy served for the match at 9-8, I started counting shots well into the point and stopped when I got to 50.  Levin outlasted Taylor taking the it 11-9.  At this point it was Acalanes 3, Campo 3.  On to the doubles matches we go.

We needed two doubles victories to clinch the overall match.  All three Acalanes doubles teams lost their first sets.  But were the coaches worried? – let’s just say none of us have fingernails left and my heart medication container is empty.  But we stuck by our boys and then the unthinkable happened, all three Acalanes teams won their second sets and then the deciding tiebreakers;  #1 Marshall/Shin 10-6, #2 Ammerman/Brewer 10-8, and #3 Roberts/Todi 10-6.  The top two seeds finished first, so Nolan and Vedant got the full team support treatment as they won the second set and tiebreaker.

It was a great night.  There were six three-setters played, and strangely enough, all of the winners lost the first set.  But that’s not why I started this article by saying I hadn’t seen it all.  Shortly after the match, our #1 player Sze Ting had his foot run over by a car.  We’ll find out in the next few days just how serious this is, but it’s pretty safe to say we will be without him on Thursday when we meet Miramonte.  We wish him a speedy recovery. 

All three coaches were again very proud of the team.  Though the contentious rivalry we had with Campolindo has really de-escalated over the past few years, we respect them as competitors and a win over them is always a big deal.  Thursday, we play Miramonte away – a 3:30 start time.  Thanks so much to our incredible family supporters who never let us down.  Hope to see you Thursday.  Go Dons!  Coach Rick

Results: Acalanes defeated Campolindo 6-3

Singles

#1 Sze Ting Chen (A) defeated Daniel Shpolanski (C) 6-1, 6-3

Linus Wirstrom (C) defeated #2 Saaj Shah (A) 6-0, 6-2

#3 Sze You Chen (A) defeated Brady Adams (C) 6-3, 6-0

#4 Bora Hoeberechts (A) defeated Drew Kirchner (C) 2-6, 6-3, 10-8

Josh Levin (C) defeated #5 Sammy Taylor (A) 3-6, 6-2, 11-9

Teemu Miller (C) defeated #6 Cameron Fisher (A) 6-7 (3), 6-4, 10-8

Doubles

#1 Blake Marshall/Kyle Shin (A) defeated Finn Lindsey-Renton/Munkhjin Odontuya (C) 3-6, 6-2, 10-6

#2 James Ammerman/Rhett Brewer (A) defeated Cade Williamson/Oscar Oehischlager (C) 0-6, 6-3, 10-8

#3 Nolan Roberts/Vedant Todi (A) defeated James Hughes/Darian Milman (C) 2-6, 7-5, 10-6