RIVERSIDE — Riverside Poly boys tennis coach Nick Mateljan knew the odds were not exactly in his team’s favor Wednesday afternoon.
Sherman Oaks Notre Dame owns a win over a CIF Southern Section Open Division qualifier and its lineup features a talented trio of singles players.
Mateljan tried to shorten the odds by moving singles players Nick Val and Jacques Wong over to doubles. And that strategy worked, as that duo swept their three sets. Additional points were tough to attain, however, and the Bears dropped a 13-5 decision in a Division 3 semifinal match.
Despite the loss, there was plenty for the Bears to celebrate. Wednesday’s match marked the program’s first semifinals appearance in 30 seasons.
“It really has been a fantastic season,” Mateljan said. “We saw it right away during those first few practices. Everyone worked hard and improved as the season went on. We made a nice playoff run here, but today we just ran into and got beat by a better team.”
Friday afternoon, Notre Dame (14-3) will square off against top-seeded Murrieta Valley (22-0) in a championship battle of first-time section finalists.
Norte Dame placed second in the brutally tough Mission League. That league’s champion (Harvard-Westlake) and third-place team (Loyola) were among the eight teams chosen to compete in this year’s Open Division bracket, earning the No. 3 seed and No. 6 seed, respectively. Notre Dame was not eligible for the Open Division playoffs, as those teams are selected from the pool of Division 1 squads. The Knights instead received the No. 2 seed in Division 3.
And the Knights took all nine singles points Wednesday, as Austin Lucca, Hudson Spezialy and Vem Tarassians only dropped a combined four games.
Mateljan hoped his side could do the same in doubles. The opening round of doubles play featured some close battles, but Val and Wong were the only Poly combination to secure a point. Val and Wong, playing as the No. 2 doubles team, won their first set in a tiebreaker: 7-6 (7-5).
Poly (18-3) picked up two more doubles points during the second and third rotations. Val and Wong prevailed with scores of 6-4 and 7-5 to complete their sweep. The No. 1 team of Connor Julian and Matthew Grisgby picked up a 6-2 win in their second set of the day, while the No. 3 doubles team of Isaac Julian and Jackson Erickson won the final set of the afternoon.
Julian and Erickson were trailing 2-5 and facing match point against Notre Dame’s No. 1 team of Jackson Geltzer and Bryce Chadbourne. Julian and Erickson battled back to force a tiebreaker, and the duo grabbed a quick 4-1 lead and eventually won the breaker 7-3 to give the Bears their fifth point.
Erickson was the only senior in Poly’s starting lineup Wednesday and was excited to finish his high school career on a winning note.
“I’m very proud of them because they gave it their best and fought hard, right down to the very last match of the day,” Mateljan said.
