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The Courtside boys 18s team--(front row, l-r) Chuck Moreton, Jason Tsui, Ashvin Soin and Slavy Elenkov, and (back row, l-r) Mike Wu, Bastian Bartels, Mike Kwong, Joe Scott, Vikram Kumar and coach Tim Sunderland.
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Courtside dominates at NorCals tennis
Tsui, Bartels help boys 18s to title
By DICK SPARRER
To say that the Courtside Tennis Club had a good day at the Northern California USTA Junior League playoffs would be like saying that Venus Williams has a pretty good serve ... it would be a gross understatement.
Because Williams has a rocket-like serve, and the Courtside kids had a great day at the NorCal finals, sending five of six teams to the championship round and winning five titles.
Courtside teams won NorCal crowns in boys 18s, girls 18s, girls 15s and girls 12s, and all four champs will now advance to the Gar Glenney Cup tournament Aug. 25-26 to play for state championships.
The four Courtside squads will be among the six teams representing Northern California against champs from Southern California in the state finals at the Tiburon Peninsula Tennis Club.
The Courtside boys 12s made it to the NorCal finals before losing, and the boys 15s lost in the quarterfinals to the eventual tourney champs.
The boys 18s knocked off Auburn 6-3 in the finals and will now be out to defend the state title they won a year ago.
Jason Tsui (Monta Vista), Vikram Kumar (Harker) and Slavy Elenkov (Westmont) were all double winners for Courtside in the NorCal finals.
Tsui posted a 7-6 (6), 7-5 win at No. 1 singles and came back to team with Elenkov for a 6-2, 2-6 (3) win at No. 1 doubles. Elenkov pulled out a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 6 singles.
Kumar rallied for a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles and later joined with Ashvin Soin (Saratoga) for a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 doubles.
Bastian Bartels (Monta Vista) rolled to an easy 6-0, 6-4 win at No. 2 singles, and he and Chuck Moreton (Bellarmine) lost 3-6, 4-5 (retired) at No. 2 doubles. Moreton had dropped a 7-5, 6-4 heartbreaker at No. 5 singles.
Soin lost a tough 7-6 (6), 6-2 decision at No. 4 singles in the only other match of the day.
Like the boys, the girls 18s are defending NorCal champions, and they wrapped up the title with a lopsided 6-0 win over Alpine Hills. All six Courtside girls won in straight sets in singles play, so no doubles matches were necessary for them to claim the victory.
Winning for Courtside were Amanda Wise (Saratoga) 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 singles, Alicia Hull (Los Gatos) 6-2, 6-0 at No. 2, Audrey Wingo (San Lorenzo Valley) 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3, Katrina Lebedeva (Los Gatos) 6-2, 6-1 at No. 4, Claire Najour (St. Francis) 6-4, 6-3 at No. 5 and Cynthia Huang (Leland) 6-2, 6-0 at No. 6.
It was more of the same in the girls 15s final. Courtside blanked Daly City 6-0, winning all six matches in singles play in straight sets, to repeat as NorCal champions.
Serena Lin (Saratoga) won 6-3, 6-3 at No. 1 singles with Vaiana Guittet winning 6-1, 6-0 at No. 2, Chelsea Green 6-3, 6-2 at No. 3, Michelle Mighdoll (Saratoga) 6-0, 6-0 at No. 4, Caroline Stege (Los Gatos) 6-0, 6-1 at No. 5 and Katie Wittwer 6-1, 6-1 at No. 6.
The girls 12s made it a Courtside sweep in the girls divisions at NorCal. Courtside handled Alpine Hills 5-4 behind the play of Courtney Hull, Anita Athaval, Nicole Lowe, Sabrina Anik, Sofie Chang and Mary Chamake.
The boys 12s made it to the finals before losing 6-3 to Alpine Hills. A year ago, Courtside beat Alpine Hills in the NorCal on the way to becoming state champions.
Kurt Chong posted a 6-4, 6-1 win at No. 1 singles, Simon Wu won 6-2, 6-3 at No. 3 singles and Patrick Brogan and Toki Sherbakov won 6-1, 6-4 at No. 2 doubles for the only Courtside victories in the match.
Brogan lost 6-3, 6-0 at No. 2, Eric Liu lost in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 at No. 4, Sherbakov lost 6-1, 6-4 at No. 5 and Harry Tseng lost in three sets 4-6, 7-6, 7-6 at No. 6 singles.
Chong and Wu dropped a tough 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (6) nod at No. 1 doubles and Liu and Tseng lost 6-0, 7-5 at No. 3.
The boys 15s lost a tight 5-4 decision to eventual NorCal champion Natomas in the quarterfinals. Natomas went on to claim the title and win a state berth.
Courtside won all six Santa Clara County titles to advance to the NorCal tournament.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
