Photo by Monique Schoenfeld, Town Crier
No. 1 singles player Derek Fong came out on top in CCS.
Town Crier Staff Writer
The first week of the Central Coast Section boys team tennis playoffs ended with Los Altos and St. Francis moving on and Mountain View bowing out.
Los Altos and St. Francis advanced to yesterday's semifinal round of the Small School division playoffs, both a win away from meeting in tomorrow's final. Tuesday's results were not available at press time.
But the Eagles and Lancers each needed to upset higher seeds to play in the title match.
Fourth-seeded Los Altos (14-5) played at No. 1 Menlo (20-0) yesterday. No. 3 St. Francis (19-4) traveled to Pebble Beach to take on No. 2 Robert Louis Stevenson (19-2).
After drawing byes in the first round, Los Altos and St. Francis pounded their quarterfinal opponents last week.
St. Francis dispatched Palo Alto 5-2 Friday at Cuesta Park. The Lancers got singles wins from No. 2 Steve Guerry, No. 3 Vincent Tsai and No. 5 Travis Richards. St. Francis then swept the doubles, as top team Darien Tung and R.J. Bates and No. 2 tandem Peter Dollinger and John Dias both prevailed
"We did a nice job," coach Gary Dinneen said. "We showed a lot of depth."
The Eagles also won by a 5-2 score, eliminating SCVAL De Anza Division rival Saratoga Saturday at Los Altos.
The top four singles players posted victories: Michael Duong, Dave Elliott, Mike Lee and Reid Phillips. The other win came from Jimmy Whitesell and Mike Shye at No. 1 doubles.
"The team did very well," coach Cuong Duong said. "They were relaxed and had fun."
No. 7 Mountain View didn't have as much fun in its quarterfinal match, losing 5-2 to host R.L. Stevenson last Friday.
The Spartans had better luck in the opening round May 13, cruising to a 6-1 home win over No. 10 Pacific Grove.
Mountain View won four of its six matches in straight sets. Singles winners included No. 1 Derek Fong, No. 2 Damien Pamilla, No. 4 Pavan Reddy and No. 5 Rory Brown. Mountain View swept the doubles, as the No. 1 team of Matt Brunnings and Mike Zalisk and the No. 2 tandem of Paul Romeo and Brad McMinn won in straight sets.